E  AMERICAN 
DITERRANEAN 

STEPHEN  BON SAL • . 


f^, 


^3- 


THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 


Cuui  1.     \     ..I    "I  ii.'    r.Mi    Xim  ruan     riiiMii 

Columbus   Monument,    Cristobal,   Canal   Zone 


THE 
AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 


By 
STEPHEN   BONSAL 

Author  of 
"The  Fight  for  Santiago,"  "The  Golden  Horseshoe,"  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW   YORK 

MOFFAT,  YARD  AND  COMPANY 
1912 


Copyright,  1912,  by 

MOFFAT,  YAKD  AND  COMPANY 

New  Tokk 

All  Riyhts  Reserved 


THC   QUINN    &    BODEN    CO.  PRESS 
RAHWAY,   N.  J. 


"The  American  Mediterranean  lands,  although 
lying  almost  entirely  within  the  tropics,  are 
perfectly  accessible  to  man  for  all  purposes  of 
permanent  settlement.  In  this  respect  they  pre- 
sent an  absolute  contrast  with  the  vast  regions 
of    Africa   situated   under   the   same  latitude." 

£lisde  Rectus. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 
XIII. 

XIV. 
XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 


The  Caribbean  World — Yesterday 

— To-day — To-morrow       .         .         i 
Cuba — Fourteen  Years  After       .       30 
The  Black  Republic       ...       47 
The  Black  Republic — Continued      .       56 
The  Truth  AbouT  Voodoo    .         .       87 
The  Truth  About   Voodoo — Con- 
tinued   ......      lOI 

Santo    Domingo — Our    Financial 
Protege        .         .         .         .         .121 

Venezuela  To-day  .         .         .      139 

The  Story  OF  Castro       .         .         .157 
Colombia  and  the  Spanish  Main    .     191 
Cartagena  and  the  Loyal  North 
Americans  .....     205 

The  Orphans  of  the  Conquest       .     223 
The  Orphans   of    the    Conquest — 
Continued       .....     243 

The  French  Islands       .         .         .     279 
Porto    Rico — Our    Political    Ap- 
pendix .....     289 

Mexico  After  Diaz  .  .  .  303 
The  Conquest  of  the  Isthmus  .  350 
The  Usufruct  of  the  West  Indies     379 


viil  CONTENTS 


Appendix  A 

PAGE 

Note      I- 

-Cuban  Budget  . 

401 

Note     II- 

-The  Piatt  Amendment 

403 

Appendix  B 

Note      I- 

-Hayti  in  History 

405 

Note     II- 

-Record  of  Political  Troubles 

407 

Note  Ill- 

-Government  of  Hayti 

410 

Note  IV- 

-Commerce  and  Industry     . 

411 

Appendix   C 

Note      I- 

-U.  S.  Convention  with  the 

Dominican  Republic 

414 

Note    II- 

-The  Dominican  Republic  . 

418 

Note  Ill- 

-Commerce 

419 

Note   IV- 

—Industries 

422 

Note     V- 

-Address  of  Secretary  Knox 

424 

Appendix  D — Venezuela       .... 

432 

Appendix  E 

Note      I- 

—The  United   States  of  Co- 

lombia   .         .         .         . 

436 

Note    II- 

—Table  of  Political  Troubles 

441 

Appendix  F — The  Danish  West  Indies  . 

446 

Appendix  G 

Note      I- 

—The  British  Islands    . 

447 

Note    II- 

—Population 

448 

Note  III- 

—The  Race  Question   . 

448 

Appendix  H — The  Dutch  Islands 

456 

Appendix  I 

Note      I- 

-The  French  Islands  . 

457 

Note    II- 

-Financial  Condition   . 

458 

Note  III- 

-General  Conditions    . 

459 

CONTENTS  IX 

Appendix  J  p^^^ 

Note      I — Imports  to  Panama     .         .  460 

Note    II — U.  S.  Treaty  with  Panama  .  461 

Appendix  K — Canal  Legislation  and  the  Hay- 

Pauncefote  Treaty          .         .  473 

Appendix  L — Our  Policy  in  Central  America  475 

Bibliography       .         .         ,         .         ...  478 

Index .  483 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Columbus     Monument,     Cristobal,     Canal 

Zone  .  .  .  .  .  .      Frontispiece 

Facing 
Page 


The  City  of  Havana,  from  Cabanas   For 

TRESS 

The  Prado,  Havana    .... 
The  Ruins  of  Sans-Souci,  Hayti 
The  Cathedral  at  Port-au-Prince,  Hayti 
Street  Scene  in  Curacao,  West  Indies 
Market  Place  at  Caracas,  Venezuela 
Statue  of  Simon  Bolivar,  Caracas 
Opera  House,  Caracas,  Venezuela 
Calle  de   Lazado,  Cartagena,  Colombia 
General  View  of  St.  Thomas,  Danish  West 

Indies  ..... 

A  Wayside  Scene,  Porto  Rico    . 
CuLEBRA  Cut,  Culebra,  Panama 
The  Cathedral  Plaza,  Panama 
The  Water-Gates  at  Gatun  | 
The  Gatun   Locks  and   Dam  j 


44 

64 

84 

118 

142 

154 
166 

202 

226 
292 
356 

370 

388 


MAPS 

Map  of  Panama  and  of  the  Canal  Zone        378 
Map  of  the  West  Indies     .         .        End  of  book 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  attempted  to  bring  to- 
gether the  records  and  the  impressions  of  many  voyages 
in  the  American  Mediterranean  and  many  visits  to  all 
the  Caribbean  countries  made  by  me  during  the  last 
twenty  years. 

In  those  countries,  where  recent  developments  have 
been  along  traditional  lines,  such  as  unhappily  has  been 
the  case  in  Hayti,  I  have  made  but  little  effort  to  more 
than  summarise  events  which  have  occurred  subsequent 
to  the  date  of  my  last  visit. 

Our  merchants  and  our  legislators  are  at  last  awaken- 
ing to  the  possibilities  of  the  new  world  that  borders  the 
great  South  Sea  to  which  the  shipping  and  the  indus- 
tries of  two  hemispheres  will  soon  penetrate  through 
the  water-gates  of  Panama.  Before  I  myself  follow  in 
the  wake  of  those  pioneers  I  have  in  this  volume  sought 
to  impress  upon  possible  readers  the  great  beauties  and 
the  magnificent  resources  of  the  lands  nearer  home  which 
have  never  been  separated  from  us  by  the  geographical 
obstacle  which  the  genius  of  the  American  people  has 
at  last  surmounted,  which  to-morrow  will  lie  adjacent 
to  the  main-travelled  roads  of  the  sea  that  are  about  to 
be  re-charted  to  meet  the  almost  miraculously  changed 
conditions  of  the  water-way  through  the  Isthmus. 


xiv  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

In  a  work  of  this  character  I  am  necessarily  under 
obligations  for  valued  assistance  derived  from  many 
sources,  for  which  I  think  in  every  instance  acknowl- 
edgment is  made  in  the  text.  For  statistical  informa- 
tion I  have  drawn  somewhat  upon  the  official  publica- 
tions of  the  countries  in  question,  but  more  heavily  upon 
the  bulletins  and  the  other  publications  of  the  Pan- 
American  Union,  which  in  the  last  few  years,  under  the 
able  and  energetic  direction  of  the  Hon.  John  Barrett, 
have  become  the  highest  authority  on  the  Latin-Ameri- 
can world.  Many  fragments  of  the  following  chap- 
ters have  been  published  in  the  New  York  Times,  in 
the  Chicago  Tribune,  and  in  the  North  American  Re- 
view. My  thanks  are  given  to  the  editors  of  these  pub- 
lications for  permission  to  republish  these  articles  in 
their  amended  and  definite  form. 

Stephen  Bonsal. 

Bedford,  N.  Y. 

September  i,  igia. 


THE    AMERICAN    MEDITERRANEAN 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Caribbean  World — Yesterday — To-day — 
To-morrow. 

The  West  Indies  extend  from  the  tip  of  Florida's 
toe,  west  to  east,  a  thousand  miles  out  to  sea.  This  is 
the  first  and  most  important  section  of  the  Caribbean 
world  and  comprises  the  four  large  islands  of  Cuba, 
Jamaica,  Hispaniola  (Hayti  and  Santo  Domingo),  and 
Porto  Rico.  Once  this  last  island  sinks  down  behind  the 
horizon,  the  Insular  chain  which  surrounds  the  Caribbean 
waters  takes  a  downward  turn  extending  to  the  South 
American  coast.  The  continental  shore-line  of  South 
and  Central  America,  the  old  Spanish  Main,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  to  the  Yucatan  Channel,  com- 
pletes the  land  boundaries  of  the  American  Mediter- 
ranean on  the  south  and  west,  and  brings  us  back  to 
Florida  waters  and  our  point  of  departure. 

The  great  majority  of  these  island  links,  which  are 
known  as  the  Lesser  Antilles,  belong  to  England  and 
they  form  two  administrative  divisions  called,  that  in  the 
north  the  Leeward  Islands,  that  In  the  south  the  Wind- 
ward Islands. 

Geographers  and  sailors  are  far  from  being  satisfied 
with  these  terms,  because,  for  one  reason,  the  islands  off 
the  Venezuelan  coast  are  left  high  and  dry  without  a 
collective  name.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  all  the  Islands  which 


2  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

form  the  beautiful  crescent  extending  across  the  storm- 
vexed  seas  from  St.  Thomas  to  Tobago  (Robinson  Cru- 
soe's real  home)  and  to  Trinidad  are  Windward  islands 
and  the  little  outposts  of  the  South  American  continent, 
Margarita,  Tortuga,  Orchilla,  Aves,  Buen  Ayre,  Cura- 
sao, and  Oruba,  compose  the  true  Leeward  group. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  these  to-day  neg- 
lected islands  were  regarded,  and  justly  so,  as  the  most 
valuable  portions  of  the  world's  surface  then  known 
and  accessible  to  man.  When  muscovado  sugar  brought 
$300  a  ton  and  cost  less  than  $100  to  produce,  when 
slave  labour  was  cheap  and  hard  driven,  a  small  200- 
acre  Barbadian  plantation  represented  an  annual  income 
of  $75,000  to  $125,000. 

Lands  as  valuable  as  these  had  many  suitors,  and  the 
ownership  of  the  islands  was  only  established  after  many 
severe  and  bloody  struggles.  One  of  these  wars  lasted 
for  a  hundred  years,  and  for  several  decades  at  least — 
until,  as  usual,  people  forgot  what  they  thought  they 
were  fighting  about — was  known  as  the  war  over 
Captain  Jenkins'  ear. 

I  remember  once  when  I  had  the  advantage  and  per- 
haps the  audacity  to  talk  history  with  Mr.  Lecky,  he 
expressed  considerable  scepticism  as  to  the  damage  that 
was  done  to  Captain  Jenkins'  ear,  and  was  rather  in- 
clined to  throw  doubt  upon  the  tradition  or  the  legend 
which  we  learned  as  history  when  I  went  to  school, 
according  to  which  Captain  Jenkins  was  a  bluff  sailor- 
man  who  went  on  a  trading  venture  to  Martinico  and 
had  his  ear  severed  from  his  honest  bullet  head  by  some 
tyrannical  don  or  frog-eater,  even  in  those  days,  it 
would  seem,  averse  to  anything  like  free  or  fair 
trade. 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  3 

"  I  am  afraid  the  good  Captain  Jenkins  was  a  pirate 
or  at  best  a  smuggler,"  said  Mr,  Lecky  sadly,  "  and  that 
his  missing  ear,  if  it  really  was  missing,  was  but  a 
pretext.  We  fought  France  and  Spain  a  hundred  years, 
and  we  cheerfully  gave  up  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  our  men  to  get  cheap  brown  sugar  for  our- 
selves (you  see,  the  sweet  tooth  was,  with  the  advance 
of  civilisation,  developing  fast)  and  to  sell  it  not  so 
cheaply  to  our  Continental  neighbours." 

Perhaps  Mr.  Lecky  was  right  and  Captain  Jenkins 
was  no  better  than  he  should  have  been,  and  the  worthy 
merchants  who  produced  him  on  the  London  'Change 
and  in  the  coffee-rooms  were  the  direct  forbears  of  the 
sugar  trustees  of  to-day.  If  the  great  historian  spoils 
an  excellent  story  which  has  made  many  a  British  breast 
swell  with  pride  in  generations  past,  it  must  also  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  deals  at  the  same  time  quite  a  blow  to  the 
theory  with  which  in  his  later  years  he  became  unduly 
enamoured,  to  the  effect  that  there  never  had  been  a 
"  yellow  "  war  until  the  days  of  the  penny  newspapers, 
whose  editors  and  correspondents  he  would  quite  fre- 
quently class  with  cholera  and  black  death  and  the  other 
plagues  sent  to  scourge  the  human  race. 

The  vast  extent  of  the  American  Mediterranean,  In 
which  I  include  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  Caribbean  Sea, 
the  encircling  rim  of  Islands,  and  the  coast  of  the  old 
Spanish  Main,  Is  not  indicated  by  the  small-scale  maps 
upon  which  the  West  Indies  are  generally  drawn.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  our  Mediterranean  has  a  circuit  drawn 
from  Cape  Sable  round  to  the  Bahamas,  of  about  12,000 
miles  or  approximately  one-half  the  circumference  of 
the  globe.  It  has  been  estimated  that  a  steamer  of 
average  speed  leaving  Key  West  and  steaming  along 


4  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  coast  of  Mexico  and  the  Central  American  and 
north  South  American  states,  then  keeping  to  the  in- 
side of  the  Antilles  and  laying  a  homeward  course, 
would  take  about  forty  days  to  get  back  to  the  starting- 
point.  The  actual  progress  of  the  tourist  or  traveller  is 
still  more  dilatory.  These  are  the  seas  of  the  nine-knot 
boats.  An  eleven-knot  boat  is  a  phenomenon  that  is 
regarded  with  the  admiration  and  the  awe  which  we, 
farther  north,  pay  to  the  trans-Atlantic  greyhounds. 
Navigation  has  another  anomaly  In  these  waters,  and 
it  is  one  that  does  not  make  for  speed.  Your  skipper 
may  have  a  great  big  voice  and  even  at  times  use  a 
belaying-pin  not  gently  upon  his  native  crew,  but,  after 
all,  he  is  only  "  number  two  man  "  to  the  fruit  super- 
cargo who  Is  charged  with  keeping  and  bringing  to  port 
in  good  condition  the  tons  of  fruit  that  every  north- 
bound steamer  carries  In  its  cold-storage  chambers.  I 
recall  that  once  on  a  journey  from  Colon  to  Jamaica, 
the  fruit  supercargo  for  six  hours  reduced  our  speed  to 
four  knots  an  hour  because  the  temperature  in  the  fruit 
chambers  was  not  low  enough,  and  all  the  power  the 
engines  could  make  above  the  pitiful  four  knots  an  hour 
was  required  for  the  purpose  of  refrigeration.  There 
was  also  a  threat  from  the  tyrannical  representative  of 
the  fruit  king  that  our  electric  light  would  have  to  be 
cut  off,  but  In  the  face  of  the  united  body  of  remonstrat- 
ing passengers,  In  this  detail  the  supercargo  relented. 
So,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  forty  days'  limit  Is  not 
often  realised.  In  my  last  cruise  practically,  though  not 
absolutely,  encirchng  our  Mediterranean,  during  which 
my  course  lay  from  New  York  to  St.  Thomas,  to 
Santa  Cruz,  to  St.  Kitt's,  to  Antigua,  to  Guadeloupe, 
and  Martinique,  down  the  Windward  Islands,  making 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  5 

calls,  and  on  to  Barbados,  Trinidad,  and  Grenada,  then 
northwest  along  the  South  American  coast  to  La  Guayra, 
Puerto  Cabello,  Curasao,  and  southeast  to  Baranquilla, 
Cartagena  and  to  Colon,  thence  north  to  Jamaica  and 
eastward,  visiting  the  ports  of  Hayti  and  Santo  Do- 
mingo, thence  across  the  Mona  Passage  to  Porto  Rico, 
then  westward  again  along  the  northern  coast  of  His- 
paniola  to  Guantanamo,  thence  to  Havana  and  New 
York.  I  spent  forty-four  not  over  comfortable  days  at 
sea,  generally  in  small-powered  sugar  boats,  and  was 
most  fortunate  in  being  nowhere  subjected  to  the  delays 
of  quarantine. 

Of  course  in  winter  many  magnificent  excursion 
steamers,  replete  with  every  comfort  and  even  luxuries, 
sail  for  the  West  Indies,  and  they  offer  a  splendid  oppor- 
tunity to  escape  the  rigours  of  our  northern  winter. 
They  are,  however,  not  to  be  recommended  to  the  stu- 
dent of  conditions,  and  the  most  picturesque  places  are 
often  left  out  of  the  itinerary  for  sanitary  or  political 
reasons.  After  all,  if  you  have  good  health  and  fair 
sea-legs,  the  slow  sugar  boats  and  the  coffee  coasters 
for  the  long  voyages,  and  the  antiquated  annexes  and 
the  inter-colonial  steamers  for  the  short  trips,  are  the 
best.  There  is  much  that  is  picturesque  and  most  in- 
teresting in  the  ports  of  call  of  the  big  boats,  but,  after 
all,  it  is  on  a  small  scale.  I  have  seen  Constantinople 
and  even  Naples  swallow  a  thousand  tourists  belched 
forth  from  the  decks  of  an  ocean  liner  for  a  few  hours' 
run  on  shore  and  after  the  first  momentary  hesitation 
that  the  sight  produced  it  was  all  over,  the  great  sight 
had  swallowed  up  all  the  spectators;  but  Santo  Do- 
mingo and  Cartagena  could  not  do  this,  and  you  had 
better  see  them  alone  or  in  a  small  company.     Some  of 


6  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  Quebec  line  of  steamers  that  ply  in  these  seas  are 
good  and  some  are  not  so  good  as  they  ought  to  be. 
The  little  Dutch  boats  that  ply  through  the  islands  on 
their  circuitous  voyage  from  New  York  to  Amsterdam 
via  Surinam  are  neat  and  charming,  and  though  slow 
and  deliberate  in  their  movements,  I  can  heartily  rec- 
ommend them.  The  enterprise  of  the  Hamburg-Ameri- 
can line  is  responsible  for  an  innovation  that  should  be 
encouraged.  Thanks  to  it  the  contrast  between  what 
must  have  been  the  life  on  the  ancient  caravels  and 
what  is  the  comfort  on  the  ocean  greyhounds  to-day  is 
not  greater  than  the  experiences  of  my  first  and  my  last 
visit  to  Hayti,  though  only  five  years  intervened.  The 
enterprising  Germans  now  run  a  little  steamer,  smart  as 
a  yacht,  neat,  clean,  and  comfortable,  once  every  month 
from  Kingston  to  St.  Thomas,  stopping  on  the  way  at 
all  the  interesting  ports  of  Hayti,  Santo  Domingo,  and 
Porto  Rico.  These  steamers  and,  of  course,  the  Royal 
Mail  of  England  for  the  long  stretches,  one  or  two  legs 
of  the  cruise,  furnish  very  agreeable  surprises  to  the 
traveller  aweary  of  his  recent  experiences. 

One  disappointment  at  least  awaits  the  traveller  in  the 
West  Indies;  probably  the  one  thing  he  thinks  he  knows 
about  the  region  in  which  he  is  travelling  is  only  partly 
true.  The  nuts  may  come  from  Brazil,  but  the  Gulf 
Stream  does  not  come  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  Hy- 
drographers  now  say  that  the  stream  which  traverses 
our  Mediterranean  is  practically  identical  with  that 
great  equatorial  current  which  flows  from  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa  across  the  Atlantic,  penetrates  through  the 
Lesser  Antilles  into  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  whence  it  returns  through  Florida  Strait  to  the 
Atlantic  and  begins  to  play  its  great  role  in  the  Western 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  7 

Ocean  and  the  adjacent  lands.  Now  it  is  known  that 
only  a  small  fraction  of  this  enormous  current  comes 
from  our  Gulf.  Still,  though  relatively  small,  the  Ameri- 
can contribution  to  this  oceanic  river  is  considerable. 
It  is  said  to  form  a  liquid  mass  about  55  miles  wide 
and  450  fathoms  deep,  moving  at  a  rate  varying  from 
two  to  six  miles  an  hour,  or  if  these  figures  are  correct  it 
is  equivalent  to  300,000  rivers  as  copious  as  that  of  the 
Mississippi. 

As  weather  conditions  and  reports  of  hurricanes  that 
have  been  lost  or  are  found  form  the  only  news  that 
reaches  the  outside  world  from  the  islands  of  the  Ameri- 
can Mediterranean  it  would  seem  fitting  that  something 
should  be  said  on  this  subject.  It  would  be  thought  that 
such  a  vast  body  of  tepid  waters,  whose  warming  Influ- 
ence is  felt  as  far  north  and  east  as  Nova  Zembla,  would 
raise  the  temperature  in  this  section  of  the  torrid  zone  so 
high  as  to  render  the  islands  uninhabitable.  There  are, 
however,  the  counteracting  influences  of  the  atmospheric 
currents,  and  of  altitude,  by  which  most  fortunately  the 
action  of  the  Gulf  Stream  is  neutralised  and  all  the  sur- 
rounding lands  of  the  isthmian  region  and  the  Islands  are 
made  suitable  for  the  settlement  of  white  men.  I  have 
suffered  slightly  from  the  heat  in  Kingston,  Jamaica, 
and  in  Pointe-a-Pitre,  Guadeloupe,  but  nowhere  else 
within  the  confines  of  the  American  Mediterranean. 

Terrific  hurricanes  such  as  the  one  by  which  Porto 
Rico  was  devastated  In  October,  1899,  are  unfortu- 
nately not  Infrequent.  Their  season  Is  from  July  to 
November;  sometimes,  though  not  often,  they  occur  out 
of  season.  It  is  held  by  scientists,  though  the  mariners 
who  sail  these  seas  generally  dissent,  that  these  cyclonic 
disturbances  are  of  local  origin  and  appear  to  be  con- 


8  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

nected  with  the  cold  northern  and  eastern  trade-winds 
which  rush  in  to  fill  the  vacuum  caused  by  the  rarefac- 
tion of  the  atmosphere  during  the  summer  months.  The 
centre  of  a  hurricane  at  sea  is  a  very  unpleasant  place  to 
be.  Practically  few  ships  have  survived  to  tell  the  tale. 
Fortunately  the  ocean  is  large  and  the  real  storm  centre 
occupies  a  comparatively  small  area.  However,  weather 
reports  by  cable  and  by  wireless  through  these  regions 
have  been  so  perfected  during  the  last  decade  that  the 
dangers  of  navigation  have  been  minimised,  though  not 
wholly  eliminated. 

Weather  conditions  are  notoriously  a  matter  of  per- 
sonal opinion  or  whim,  but  I  have  always  thought  that 
an  earthquake  was  a  too  substantial  fact  to  admit  of 
doubt  or  discussion  among  its  survivors;  however,  the 
inhabitants  of  Kingston,  Jamaica,  have  convinced 
me  of  my  error.  After  years  of  litigation  they  have 
also,  which  is  more  important  for  them,  convinced  the 
highest  courts  in  England  that  their  city  was  not  de- 
stroyed by  an  earthquake  and  a  hurricane  in  1903.  The 
weight  of  evidence  which  they  have  produced  has  con- 
vinced the  learned  judges  that  if  these  terrestrial  and 
aerial  commotions  did  occur  It  was  only  after  the  town  of 
Kingston  had  been  destroyed  by  fire,  and  the  fire  in- 
surance companies  will  have  to  pay  something  like  two 
million  dollars  damages.  It  was  a  wonderful  achieve- 
ment of  the  KIngstonians.  They  proved  for  once  that 
Nature  in  her  phenomena  puts  the  cart  before  the  horse. 

The  struggle  for  the  sugar  lands  ended  practically 
with  the  great  fight  off  the  rock-bound  coast  of  Dominica 
where  in  1782  Rodney  sank  the  fleet  of  De  Grasse, 
composed  in  part  at  least  of  the  very  frigates  which  had 
sailed  up  the  York  River  the  year  before  and  made  our 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  9 

victory  at  Yorktown  possible.  Napoleon  tried,  but  in 
vain,  to  win  back  the  profitable  plantations.  Then  as 
now  the  people  of  Dominica  and  of  St.  Kitts  and  a 
number  of  the  other  islands  spoke  French,  but  the 
ancient  flag  was  never  restored  to  them. 

Defeated  in  his  turn  by  the  oaken  frigates  of  old 
England,  Napoleon,  most  resourceful  of  men,  thought 
of  a  way  in  which  he  might  ruin  a  country  he  could  not 
conquer.  Somewhere  in  his  private  papers  the  watch- 
ful historian  who  seeks  the  little  causes  of  great  effects 
has  found  the  entry: 

"  This  day  the  emperor  granted  two  thousand  livres 
from  his  private  purse  to  investigate  the  possibility  of 
making  sugar  from  the  beet  root.  Thus  France  may 
escape  the  heavy  tribute  she  is  yearly  forced  to  pay  to 
foreigners," 

was  the  imperial  comment. 

The  successful  result  of  his  experiments  ruined  the 
West  Indies,  and  gradually  in  the  course  of  three  genera- 
tions the  most  profitable  of  islands  became  the  Cin- 
derellas  of  the  nations. 

To-day,  again,  the  tables  are  turning.  The  cost  of 
manufacturing  sugar  from  cane  has  been  so  reduced 
that  the  growers  of  the  sugar-beet  will  have  to  look 
to  their  profits.  With  the  market  of  80,000,000  people 
once  open  to  them  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  grow- 
ing of  cane  sugar  in  the  West  Indies  may  well  become 
again  a  lucrative  pursuit,  though,  of  course,  not  nearly 
so  profitable  as  it  was  a  century  ago. 

When  the  lean  years  came  and  deficits  began  to  pre- 
sent themselves  with  great  regularity  in  every  annual 
budget  that  came  from  the  West  Indian  islands,  the 


10         THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

matter-of-fact  overlords  in  Europe  also  began  to  take 
stock  of  a  business  where  the  balance  was  Invariably 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  ledger.  It  Is  quite  difficult  to 
prove  this  statement,  but  there  is  much  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  our  English  cousins,  the  most  businesslike 
of  overlords,  some  twenty  years  ago  made  what  might, 
had  it  been  received  with  enthusiasm,  have  developed 
into  a  formal  offer  to  sell  their  out-at-the  elbow  West 
Indian  islands  to  Uncle  Sam  for  a  reasonable  sum,  and 
to-day  some  think  there  is  a  standing  offer  on  file  In 
Washington  whereby  John  Bull  pledges  himself  to 
take  our  Philippine  troubles  off  our  hands  If  we  in 
turn  would  only  oblige  by  shouldering  his  West  Indian 
burden. 

Perhaps  the  fruit  trade  between  the  islands  and  the 
mother  countries  across  the  Atlantic  In  refrigerated 
steamers,  which  is  just  beginning,  will  save  the  economic 
situation  and  perhaps  it  will  not.  Perhaps  the  English 
threat  of  reducing  the  scale  and  the  class  of  government 
given — that  the  cost  of  administration  may  be  reduced 
to  the  level  of  the  revenue  collected — will,  in  some  hard- 
up  day  when  the  old-age  pensions  have  to  be  paid,  be 
carried  into  effect,  and  then  perforce  West  Indian  civili- 
sation will  take  a  backward  step  by  which  our  Interests 
cannot  but  be  affected. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  all  the  powers  of 
the  world  were  competing  for  the  possession  of  the 
islands,  which  many  of  them  to-day  would  gladly 
abandon  if  the  way  to  doing  so  were  clear.  And  those 
powers  which  to-day,  like  Germany,  cannot  successfully 
deny  the  impeachment  of  coveting  West  Indian  real 
estate,  it  is  equally  clear,  only  regard  them  as  strategic 
positions  or  stepping-stones  to  more  desirable  places  and 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  ii 

heights  beyond.  Vast  economic  changes  are  impending 
in  the  Caribbean  as  a  result  of  the  construction  of  the 
isthmian  canal,  and  it  behooves  us  not  to  neglect  any 
advantages  which  may  accrue  as  a  result  of  our  tre- 
mendous canal  investment.  When  the  impending 
changes  have  taken  place,  the  political  situation  of  all 
our  insular  and  continental  neighbours  is  not  likely  to 
remain  as  it  is. 

Of  our  recent  relations  with  the  various  governments 
which  exist  in  the  countries  that  are  washed  by  the  Carib- 
bean waters  there  is  little  to  be  said.  All  that  might  be 
said  is  either  well  known  or  not  worth  saying. 

Grant  had  a  strange  yearning  for  these  islands  and 
he  never  forgave  those  men  who  defeated  the  perhaps 
then  ill-considered  projects  of  annexation  and  purchase 
which  he  cherished.  A  little  later,  it  would  appear  from 
a  recent  volume  of  Mr.  Rhodes,  the  idea  of  national 
aggrandisement  in  the  West  Indies  found  a  spokesman 
in  Sumner,  the  man  who  had,  and  perhaps  the  only 
man  who  could  have,  defeated  Grant's  Santo  Domingo 
scheme. 

It  was  at  the  time  when  the  burning  question  of  the 
Alabama  claims  had  brought  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  to  the  brink  of  war,  and  Mr.  Fish  was 
urging  upon  Thornton,  the  English  Minister  at  Wash- 
ington, in  anything  but  an  academic  spirit,  the  with- 
drawal of  Her  Majesty's  government  from  Canada,  that 
Sumner  outhned  the  most  out-and-out  America  for  the 
United  States  policy  which  was  ever  penned.  In  this 
formal  paper,  which  is  known  in  our  diplomatic  history 
as  the  "  Sumner  hemisphere  flag  withdrawal  memoran- 
dum," the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  who  was  also 
chairman  of  the  foreign  relations  committee,  wrote 


12  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

"  To  make  the  settlement  complete,"  referring  to  the 
claims  and  the  Fenian  troubles,  "  the  withdrawal  [Brit- 
ish] should  be  from  this  hemisphere,  including  provinces 
and  islands." 

More  important  even  than  the  Spanish  war  which 
left  us  proprietor  of  Porto  Rico  and  protector  and  spon- 
sor for  Cuba,  in  bringing  about  the  new  conditions  in  the 
West  Indies,  were  the  consequences  of  the  Venezuelan 
correspondence  between  Lord  Salisbury  and  Mr.  Olney. 
After  having  ignored,  if  he  did  not  flout  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  the  English  earl  ended  by  canonising  it.  So 
far  from  opposing  the  extension  and  general  acceptance 
of  this  hemisphere-embracing  creed.  Lord  Salisbury  and 
his  successors  in  the  British  Foreign  Office  have  placed 
their  own  possessions  under  the  defensive  shield  out  of 
which  they  once  feared  offensive  weapons  might  be 
forged. 

When  the  Venezuelan  boundary  question  came  on  the 
international  carpet,  the  British  islands  of  the  Caribbean 
were  the  scenes  of  much  naval  and  military  activity.  It 
was  then  the  plan  and  the  frank  purpose  of  the  British 
government  to  make  Jamaica  and  St.  Lucia  impregnable. 
Vast  sums  were  spent  at  Castries  and  elsewhere.  Then 
swiftly  came  the  change  of  policy,  the  great  naval  sta- 
tion was  abandoned,  the  immense  fortresses  were  left 
unfinished,  the  white  troops  were  withdrawn,  the  power- 
ful squadrons  sailed  away,  never  to  return.  It  was 
announced  that  the  West  Indian  colonies  had  been 
abandoned  as  factors  in  the  scheme  of  imperial  defence, 
and  it  never  was  denied  that  as  a  result  of  the  Olney- 
Salisbury  correspondence  and  the  development  of  the 
for  many  decades  neglected  Monroe  Doctrine,  the  British 
government  had  decided  to  place  its  islands  under  the 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  13 

protection  of  the  overlord  of  the  Caribbean,  whose  seat 
is  in  Washington. 

The  situation  of  the  Dutch  and  of  the  Danish  colonies 
in  the  Caribbean  is  similar  and  equally  unhappy.  These 
are  thrifty  nations  which  have  never  hitherto  governed 
colonies  at  a  loss,  as  they  are  doing  to-day.  In  popula- 
tion and  in  commerce  these  colonies  are  inconsiderable, 
and  they  cost  a  pretty  penny,  which  is  onerous  upon  the 
limited  treasuries  of  the  countries  to  which  they  belong. 
They  are  only  rich  in  potential  qualities,  which  require 
the  developing  hand  of  a  world-power. 

The  West  Indian  "  advance  "  men,  who  are  continu- 
ally preaching  in  Berlin  and  in  Hamburg  about  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  Caribbean  situation,  commercial  and  po- 
litical, are  quite  right  when  they  say  that  once  the  Ger- 
man flag  is  raised  over  St.  Thomas  and  Santa  Cruz,  over 
Curacao  and  Margarita,  the  strategic  and  defensive 
position  of  the  German  empire  in  the  West  Indies  would 
be  as  strong  as  that  of  the  United  States,  and  stronger 
than  that  of  England,  whose  positions  were  chosen,  and 
exceedingly  well  chosen,  for  the  days  of  sailing  vessels. 
Now  and  again  the  traveller  through  these  to-day 
lonely  and,  as  far  as  sails  are  concerned,  forsaken  seas 
comes  upon  some  moss-grown  fortress  with  dismantled 
battlements  and  wonders  what  it  was  for  and  why  it  was 
built  there.  His  enquiry  and  research  soon  reveal  the 
fact  that  in  the  golden  days  of  sugar  in  the  eighteenth 
century  these  forts  commanded  certain  passages  and 
channels  of  thc^  sea  which  it  was  necessary  for  traders 
to  pass  through  in  the  era  before  steam,  when  the  trade 
winds  ruled  this  part  of  the  world  with  something  closely 
akin  to  tyranny. 

So  the  Dutch  and  the  Danish  colonies  are  run  at  a  loss, 


14  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  is  bad,  but  the  political  exigencies  of  the  situa- 
tion require  of  the  Dutch  and  the  Danish  home  govern- 
ments to  make  believe  that  they  enjoy  throwing  money 
into  the  Caribbean,  which  is  worse.  They  are  both 
equally  concerned  to  see  postponed  the  day  when  the 
question  of  the  ultimate  destination  of  these  islands  shall 
pass  beyond  the  academic  stage.  The  statesmen  of  The 
Hague  know  perhaps  better  than  we  do,  or  at  least  in 
more  detail,  how  extremely  anxious  Berlin  is  to  secure 
these  positions  which  might  be  regarded  as  indispensable 
if  the  future  of  the  empire  is  to  be  upon  the  water,  as 
Emperor  William  says  it  is. 

Not  being  able  to  part  with  what  once  were  profitable 
plantations,  but  are  now  simply  costly  toys — neither  to 
Germany,  because  we  would  regard  such  a  step  as  a 
breach  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  most  certainly  a 
casus  belli,  nor  to  us,  because  Germany  could  and  prob- 
ably would  make  things  unpleasant  for  the  vendors  at 
home — the  Hague  and  the  Copenhagen  governments 
will  probably  continue  to  foot  their  West  Indian  bills 
with  the  best  grace  imaginable  until  the  next  general 
adjustment  of  balances  and  unfinished  business  is 
reached  between  the  powers  as  the  result  of  war  or 
the  awakening  of  an  intelligent  self-interest. 

There  is,  of  course,  another  view  of  the  situation  of 
the  British  colonies,  but  neither  in  England  nor  in  the 
islands  is  it  shared  by  many  thoroughly  conversant  with 
West  Indian  conditions.  This  view  has  been  well  ex- 
pressed by  Mr.  Holland  in  the  National  Review: 

"The  imperial  conference  of  1907,"  he  writes, 
"  when  the  air  was  full  of  projects  for  a  closer  imperial 
union,  showed  that  definite  projects  must  be  postponed. 
Nevertheless  the  imperial  conference  itself  is  now  more 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  15 

than  ever  before  an  established  fact,  and  the  wording  of 
its  first  resolution  constituted  a  real  step  in  development. 
The  council  of  the  empire  exists  and  as  time  goes  on 
will  acquire  strength  and  substance.  ,  .  .  The  uni- 
versal free  trade  idea  was  powerful  when  no  rival  idea 
was  in  the  field,  but  it  has  now  encountered  one  stronger 
than  itself,  that  of  the  might  and  unity  of  the  empire. 

In  more  direct  relation  with  our  subject  is  the  project 
of  a  West  Indian  federation  of  British  crown  colonies 
with  what  might  be  called  an  interinsular  parliament  and 
a  governor-general  appointed  by  the  Emperor-king. 
This  project  seems  to  command  at  any  and  all  times  a 
large  amount  of  space  in  the  London  papers,  but 
among  the  islanders  it  excites  hardly  any  interest.  I 
broached  the  subject  to  a  distinguished  gentleman  of 
Antigua,  as,  indeed,  I  did  to  many  other  men  of  weight 
with  whom  I  came  in  contact  during  my  trip  through 
the  islands,  but  it  was  invariably  dismissed  with  a  few 
and  generally  bitter  words. 

The  leading  Antiguan  said  when  he  had  relieved  his 
feelings  with  a  good  scold  of  Whitehall  Street  in  general 
and  the  Colonial  Office  in  particular: 

*'  These  islands  are  so  many  oranges  which  the  mother 
country  has  sucked  dry,  and  now  we,  the  peels  or  the 
rind,  what  you  will,  are  thrown  away.  I  hear  quite  a 
trade  is  springing  up  between  Haytian  and  Dominican 
ports  and  the  United  States  in  orange  peels,  but  that  is 
commercial,  not  political.  You  can  take  it  from  me  that 
the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  England  are  con- 
cerned in  the  pursuit  of  the  elusive  guineas  and  do  not 
care  a  penny  for  political  orange  peels  such  as  we  are. 

"  I  think  it  was  Froude,  was  it  not,  who  said  the  West 
Indies  grew  sugar  but  not  men.  As  we  no  longer  grow 
even  sugar,  how  can  they  be  interested  in  us  and  in  our 


i6  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

calamitous  affairs?  It  would  hardly  be  wise  to  remind 
them  of  the  good  white  rum  we  gave  them  in  ages  past. 
Their  gouty  toes  probably  keep  that  in  all  the  freshness 
and  remembrance  that  is  desirable.  Now  and  again  we 
get  a  colonial  minister  like  Chamberlain,  who  was  either 
patriotically  and  honestly  concerned  with  our  well-being 
and  our  welfare  as  outposts  of  the  empire,  to  which  in 
the  days  of  our  strength  we  rendered  loyal  service,  or 
was  desirous  of  securing  a  new  political  battle-cry  with 
which  to  rally  a  parliamentary  majority  or  to  secure  a 
niche  in  Westminster  Abbey.  But,  as  a  rule,  they  leave 
us  alone  in  our  ruined  sugar  mills  and  our  neglected 
plantations,  which  are  growing  up  into  jungle  again." 

The  leading  editor  in  Jamaica,  when  I  called  his  at- 
tention to  the  West  Indian  federation  project,  found 
it  amusing,  but  in  bad  taste.  The  situation  In  the 
islands,  he  added,  Is  far  too  serious  to  be  made  a  sub- 
ject of  jesting.  The  federation  scheme  serves  to  point 
a  few  paragraphs  in  the  London  daily  papers  and  fur- 
nishes an  occasional  long  article  In  the  Colonial  Office 
journal,  but  it  has  no  more  practical  purpose  than  that. 

"  The  whole  business  Is  an  absurd  dream  of  two  or 
three  English  faddists,"  he  continued,  "  who  are  weakly 
supported  by  a  few  West  Indians  who  have  lived  so 
long  In  London  that  they  are  completely  out  of  touch 
with  the  islands. 

*'  The  paper  project  is,  as  I  understand  It,  a  federa- 
tion stretching  from  Demerara  on  the  southeast  to  Hon- 
duras on  the  northwest,  and  so  embracing  Integral  por- 
tions of  two  continents  and  divers  islands  of  many  seas. 
When  the  advocates  of  this  scheme  are  invited  to  give 
us  facts,  laying  aside  the  vague  generalities  In  which  they 
usually  Indulge,  they  say:  'Well,  at  all  events  it  would 
be  economical.'  Economy,  though  not  the  sole  end  and 
aim  of  government,  is  a  desirable  thing,  but  it  cannot 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  17 

be  advanced  in  favour  of  the  federation  scheme,  at  least 
not  to  the  satisfaction  of  business  men. 

"  The  governor-general  would  have  to  be  well  paid 
and  needs  must  live  in  great  state,  and  be  continually 
taking  costly  official  journeys  through  the  islands,  or, 
according  to  the  ideas  in  which  we  West  Indians,  whites 
as  well  as  blacks,  have  been  trained  for  generations,  he 
would  simply  cut  a  ridiculous  figure.  The  resident  lieu- 
tenant-governor in  each  of  the  colonies  would  havetobe 
paid  nearly,  or  quite,  as  much  as  the  present  governors 
if  we  wanted  to  secure  the  same  or  a  higher  class  of 
men  for  the  posts,  and  we  do.  The  members  of  the 
legislature  of  the  federation  would  have  to  be  paid  (the 
members  of  the  colonial  assemblies,  as  at  present  con- 
stituted, are  not),  because  the  performance  of  their 
duties  would  carry  many  of  them,  indeed  most  of  them, 
thousands  of  miles  away  from  their  homes,  their  fami- 
lies, and  their  private  concerns.  Under  these  circum- 
stances I  fear  we  would  not  secure  the  high-class  men 
that  at  present  with  few  exceptions  compose  the 
colonial  assemblies. 

"  The  whole  idea  of  a  federation  is,  to  my  mind,  ab- 
surd unless  a  community  of  interest  can  be  proved,  and 
in  this  instance  evidence  quite  the  contrary  is  apparent 
to  every  observer.  It  is  true  that  Demerara,  and  per- 
haps one  or  two  of  the  other  colonies,  have  quite  made 
up  their  minds  they  want  the  federation  and  are  con- 
vinced they  would  prosper  mightily  once  preferential 
tariff  relations  with  Great  Britain  were  established. 
They  forget,  or  do  not  see,  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  would  be  forced  to  retaliate,  and  as  a  re- 
sult Jamaica,  Dommica,  and  the  other  islands  dependent 
upon  the  American  markets  would  be  ruined." 

In  France,  where  the  deficits  in  the  annual  budgets  of 
Martinique  and  Guadeloupe  have  become  fixtures  and 
the  periodic  race  conflicts  on  these  once  peaceful  islands 
a  cause  of  grave  anxiety,  the  comment  and  the  advice 


i8  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

upon  the  West  Indian  situation  contained  in  the  recently 
published  work  of  Captain  Gabriel  Darrieus,  entitled 
*'  War  on  the  Sea,"  has  attracted  widespread  attention. 
The  author  is  a  distinguished  officer  of  the  French  navy 
and  a  highly-regarded  professor  at  the  Naval  War  Col- 
lege. The  weight  and  authority  attached  to  his  opinions 
in  France  correspond  to  the  fame  which  Captain  Mahan 
enjoys  with  us.  In  many  of  his  statements,  particularly 
where  he  enters  the  political  field,  this  distinguished 
naval  officer  is  mistaken,  but  his  conclusions  are  enjoying 
wide  acceptance  in  France  to-day,  and  his  influence  upon 
the  West  Indian  policy  of  his  government  and  his  people 
is  undeniable. 

"  The  great  island  of  Cuba,"  he  writes,  "  was  the 
first  objective  of  the  forward  policy  of  the  United 
States,  and  because  of  its  value,  extent,  and  riches  it 
deserved  to  be  so  favoured.  It  was  not  so  much,  how- 
ever, because  the  American  government  saw  in  Cuba 
an  excellent  opportunity  as  because  Cuba  lay  within 
the  sphere  of  attraction  traced  by  the  Monroe  Doc- 
trine, that  her  divorce  from  Spain  was  consummated 
by  force  of  arms  after,  it  should  be  added,  long  and 
patient  attempts  at  a  mutual  agreement  had  failed. 

"  But,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  this  famous  doc- 
trine, which  is  the  fanatical  credo  of  the  American 
policy,  was  by  no  means  conceived  for  an  isolated  case. 
Indeed,  it  applies  marvellously  to  all  occasions  which  af- 
ford opportunity  to  increase  the  patrimony  of  the  Star- 
Spangled  Banner.  And  Cuba  is  by  no  means  the  only 
satellite  which  gravitates  toward  that  mighty  star,  the 
United  States.  Many  other  Islands  In  the  West  Indies 
are  still  foreign  to  the  Americans,  and  It  Is  on  that  ac- 
count that  several  European  powers,  ourselves  [the 
French]  in  particular,  have  an  interest  of  the  first  order 
In  following  with  the  most  extreme  attention  the  mani- 
festations of  public  opinion  In  America. 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  19 

"  Over  there  the  rapid  strides  toward  imperialism, 
the  feverish  activity  with  which  warships  are  launched 
until  It  Is  evident  that  soon  the  American  will  be  able 
to  successfully  dispute  the  second  place  among  the  navies 
of  the  world,  are  all  undeniable  symptoms.  For  what 
are  all  these  preparations  if  not  In  case  of  need  to  com- 
pel the  acceptance  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine?  True  it 
is  that  beyond  the  Atlantic  the  indispensable  weapon  of 
maritime  power  Is  forged  with  full  knowledge  of  Its 
influence  in  history. 

"  But  a  few  short  months  ago,  In  a  much  talked  of 
speech,  President  Roosevelt,  in  alluding  to  the  role  of 
the  United  States  in  the  West  Indian  waters,  developed 
the  Idea  that,  without  meaning  to  attack  acquired  rights 
on  those  shores,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  great  republic 
not  to  neglect  or  to  ignore  anything  that  was  there  In 
progress.  He  even  Insisted  that  by  natural  right  the 
United  States  had  in  the  Caribbean  '  a  mission  of  sur- 
veillance and  even  of  high  police  to  establish  order  there 
whenever  it  became  necessary.' 

"  Many  good  people  .  .  .  affect  to  see  in  these 
words  merely  a  warning  to  the  opera  bouffe  republics 
of  Hayti  and  San  Domingo.  They  would  even  freely 
applaud  intervention  of  the  excellent  policeman,  but 
they  forget  that  policemen  often  calm  disorders  by 
dragging  everybody  to  the  guardhouse.  They  likewise 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  there  is  great  encouragement 
to  pursue  a  policy  in  a  first  success.  After  having  con- 
fiscated the  actual  theatre  of  the  disorder,  who  can  say 
that  the  other  West  Indian  islands  would  not  have  their 
turn?  It  is  so  tempting  to  offer  one's  good  offices  when 
the  proprietor  is  not  at  home  and  when  Europe  is  so 
far  away."  * 

I  will  conclude  this  necessarily  limited  and  fragmen- 
tary survey  of  opinion  at  home  and  abroad  In  regard 

*A  more  complete  statement  of  the  views  of  this  French  naval 
officer  and  strategist  is  given  in  the  chapter  on  the  French  islands, 
page  287. 


20  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

to  the  present  state  and  prospects  of  the  West  Indies 
with  a  quotation  from  Brooks  Adams,  a  distinguished 
publicist,  who  on  several  occasions  has  exercised  his  gift 
of  prophecy  with  remarkably  successful  results : 

"  Should  the  future  resemble  the  past,"  wrote  Mr. 
Adams  several  years  ago,  "  and  the  conditions  of  com- 
petition remain  unchanged,  the  Caribbean  archipelago 
must  either  be  absorbed  by  the  economic  system  of  the 
United  States  or  lapse  into  barbarism."  Since  these 
words  were  written  the  development  of  our  policy  at  the 
hands  of  President  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Root,  as  shown 
in  our  dealings  with  Hayti  and  Santo  Domingo,  indi- 
cate with  great  clearness  that  any  serious  lapse  into 
barbarism  on  the  part  of  our  near  neighbours  would 
call  for  the  intervention  of  our  police  force. 

Mr.  Adams  then  goes  on  to  say: 

"  Now  the  current  sets  toward  America  and  the  ab- 
sorption of  any  considerable  islands  will  probably  lead 
to  the  assimilation  of  the  rest,  for  the  preference  of  the 
products  of  any  portion  of  the  archipelago  by  the  United 
States  would  so  depress  the  trade  of  the  remainder  as  to 
render  civilized  life  therein  exceedingly  precarious." 

These  results  which  the  political  economist  foresaw 
have  been  fully  realised.  To-day  the  reward  of  two 
hours'  labour  in  Porto  Rico  is  greater  than  the  pay  for 
a  long  day's  work  in  Jamaica  or  Barbados.  Planta- 
tions in  Porto  Rico,  whose  products  have  a  free  entry 
to  the  American  markets,  seem  to  quadruple  in  value 
yearly,  while  in  the  other  islands  land  has  no  value  and 
is  rarely  sold,  because  in  many  sections  it  is  not  worth 
the  expenses  of  the  legal  transfer  and  the  cost  of  a 
survey. 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  21 

Fourteen  years  ago,  as  a  result  of  the  war  with  Spain, 
we  ourselves  became  West  Indian  landowners.  We 
annexed  Porto  Rico  outright  and  our  peculiar  and  in- 
evitable relations  with  Cuba  which  have  been  recognised 
by  every  American  public  man,  from  the  days  of  Jef- 
ferson and  Everett  to  Olney  and  Hay,  were  codified  in 
the  Piatt  Amendment  and  became  at  once  a  part  of  the 
Cuban  Constitution  and  of  our  public  law,  which  is  the 
International  law  of  the  American  World.  Cuba  is  to- 
day independent  conditionally  upon  good  behaviour  and 
upon  her  governing  bodies  showing  some  appreciation  of 
the  rights  and  the  interests  of  her  long-suffering  neigh- 
bour, liberator,  and  benefactor. 

Such  misgovernment  and  civic  inefficiency  as  brought 
about  the  expulsion  of  Spain  from  Cuba  will  not  be 
tolerated  in  the  young  republic  whose  destiny  is  so  in- 
extricably involved  with  ours.  Following  natural  eco- 
nomic laws,  which  cannot  be  deflected  from  their  courses, 
American  capital  and  American  settlers  are  daily  in- 
creasing in  the  beautiful  island  which  well  deserves  its 
name  of  "  Pearl  of  the  Antilles." 

A  hopeful  feature  of  the  situation  which  Cuba  pre- 
sents is  the  ever-increasing  immigration  of  Basques 
and  Galicians  to  the  island  from  northern  Spain. 
These  new  arrivals  are  as  different  as  night  is  to 
day  from  the  hordes  of  office-seekers  and  adven- 
turers which  Spain  formerly  dumped  upon  the  shores 
of  her  unfortunate  colony.  They  are  thrifty,  hard- 
working, and  honest,  and  both  here  and  in  Panama, 
they  stand  active  open-air  work  better  than  any  other 
men  of  the  white  race.  Naturally,  under  these  circum- 
stances the  newcomers  are  not  liked  by  the  lazy  Creoles; 
however,  should  political  conditions  not  render  their 


22  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

stay  on  the  island  unendurable,  the  Basques  and  the 
Galicians  may  save  for  Spanish  civilisation  and  culture 
the  island  that  was  lost  by  Spanish  corruption  and  po- 
litical inefficiency. 

The  very  general  desire  of  the  lesser  European 
powers  to  shift  their  West  Indian  burdens  to  American 
shoulders  was  most  strikingly  illustrated  in  1901,  when 
the  Danish  government,  awakening  to  the  steady  drain 
of  the  annual  deficits  of  the  insular  budget,  offered  the 
islands  of  St.  Thomas,  of  St.  Johns,  and  Santa  Cruz 
to  the  United  States  at  a  moderate  price.  The  authori- 
ties in  Washington  were  not  averse  to  the  proposal  and 
a  treaty  of  purchase  and  cession  was  drawn  up,  signed 
by  the  plenipotentiaries,  and  promptly  approved  by  the 
Danish  Folkething  or  Lower  House  of  Parliament. 
Then  delays  ensued  and  unexpected  difficulties  presented 
themselves;  at  last,  however,  in  1903,  the  treaty  was 
rejected  in  the  Landthing  or  Upper  House  of  the  Dan- 
ish parliament  by  a  tie  vote  after  very  unusual  measures 
had  been  adopted  by  both  sides  in  the  hope  of  gaining 
the  day.  At  first  this  change  of  front  on  the  part  of 
the  Danes  was  quite  generally  explained  and  interpreted 
as  the  exhibition  of  a  childish  desire  on  their  part  to 
reciprocate  the  discourtesy  with  which  the  treaty  with  a 
similar  object  had  been  treated  in  our  Senate  as  long  ago 
as  1867. 

An  examination  of  the  facts,  however,  tells  quite  a 
different  story  and  reveals  a  more  novel  and  certainly 
a  more  interesting  situation.  The  treaty  was  clearly 
defeated  by  the  pro-German  members  of  the  Danish 
royal  family,  with  Prince  Waldemar  at  their  head,  and 
the  campaign  which  resulted  in  such  a  narrow  but  yet 
decisive  success  was  directed  from  Potsdam  or  from 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  23 

Berlin,  wherever  the  German  Emperor  happened  to  be. 
Prince  Waldemar  and  his  friends  celebrated  the  victory 
with  a  banquet,  which,  if  not  public,  was  certainly  not 
concealed.  Under  the  same  high  auspices  and  with  the 
approval  and  assistance  of  German  financiers,  several 
companies  were  formed  with  members  of  the  Danish 
royal  house  as  patrons,  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing 
and  exploiting  on  a  large  and  modern  scale  a  great  num- 
ber of  plantations  in  the  Danish  islands  which,  for  the 
most  part,  had  been  deserted  many  years.  These  ven- 
tures in  tropical  agriculture  have  proved  sad  failures, 
and  the  fiscal  outlook  of  the  Danish  West  Indies  was 
never  more  dismal  than  it  is  to-day.  The  political  les- 
son is  valuable — it  has  certainly  not  been  lost  in  Wash- 
ington— but  the  economic  illustration  is  also  of  value; 
it  again  inculcates  the  lesson  that  what  the  Caribbean 
islands  are  most  in  need  of  is  not  capital  but  a  market. 
Capital  will  be  found  available  wherever  profitable 
business  presents  Itself,  but  this  is  a  dream  that  cannot 
be  realised  as  long  as  the  great  market  of  the  United 
States  and  the  lesser  market  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
remain  closed.  Since  this  disclosure  of  active  German 
interest  in  the  fate  of  the  Danish  islands  the  Hamburg- 
American  Steamship  Company  has  practically  taken  pos- 
sion  of  the  best  harbours  in  St.  Thomas,  where  it  con- 
trols not  only  large  coal  deposits,  but  a  very  valuable 
floating  dry-dock.  By  giving  employment  to  hundreds 
of  St.  Thomas  boys,  who  make  excellent  sailors,  the 
German  company  has  undoubtedly  saved  many  of  the 
unfortunate  islanders  from  want  and  destitution.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  local  Danish  authorities,  beyond 
the  sphere  of  influence  of  Prince  Waldemar  and  his 
clique   in   Copenhagen,   view  the   anomalous  situation, 


24  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  has  been  created  for  them,  with  undisguised  dis- 
pleasure and  not  a  little  uneasiness. 

As  a  result  of  recent  activity  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
the  Germans  in  time  of  peace  have  made  themselves 
as  much  at  home  in  the  Danish  West  Indian  possessions 
as  they  did  in  Curagao  and  the  other  Dutch  ports  dur- 
ing the  Venezuelan  blockade  or  war.  These  islands  are 
very  important  strategic  positions.  In  the  new  condi- 
tions which  the  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  will 
inaugurate  they  will  probably  be  the  most  desirable  har- 
bours for  warlike  purposes.  From  a  military  stand- 
point, at  least,  we  can  well  ignore  the  development  of 
.German  strength  and  influence  in  southern  Brazil, 
where  it  would  be,  whatever  may  come  of  it,  farther 
from  our  shores  than  the  fatherland  on  the  banks  of  the 
Weser  and  the  Elbe,  but  the  occupation  of  these  Carib- 
bean naval  stations  is  a  possibility  that  it  is  unpleasant 
to  contemplate  and  it  would  be  unwise  to  ignore  the 
fact  that  plans  leading  to  this  result  are  now  being  ma- 
tured and  that  they  seem  to  enjoy  the  approval  and 
support  of  the  most  influential  circles  in  Berlin. 

Our  changed  relations  with  the  Dominican  Repub- 
lic as  revealed  by  the  convention  signed  in  February, 
1907,  are  equally  significant  of  the  increasing  responsi- 
bilities which  the  passing  of  each  year  brings  to  us.  A 
situation  is  presenting  itself  practically  at  our  doors 
which  we  can  neither  master  nor  wholly  escape  unless  we 
assume  a  policy  more  resolute  and  more  active  than  our 
present  course  of  drifting.  The  Dominican  Republic 
is  an  extremely  fertile  tropical  country,  occupying  the 
eastern  and  by  far  the  larger  half  of  the  island  of  His- 
paniola,  with  Hayti  and  the  exclusive  black  republicans 
as  uneasy  neighbours  on  the  west.     For  years  the  sue- 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  25 

cesslve  governments  of  the  Dominican  Republic,  almost 
invariably  of  revolutionary  origin,  had  failed  to  dis- 
charge their  International  obligations,  the  ephemeral 
and  often  fugitive  governments  of  the  republic  were  fre- 
quently pressed  for  payments  long  overdue  by  the  war- 
ships of  European  powers;  the  desired  result  was  rarely 
obtained,  but  the  island  was  almost  invariably  thrown 
into  anarchy  out  of  which  other  revolutionary  and  even 
more  irresponsible  governments  arose. 

As  a  rule,  of  course,  the  money  or  loans  for  which 
payment  was  pressed  had  either  been  squandered  by,  or 
divided  up  among,  the  political  freebooters  who  chanced 
to  be  In  power  when  the  transaction  was  concluded  and, 
of  course,  repayment  by  the  people  who  had  in  no  wise 
enjoyed  either  benefit  or  profit  was  exceedingly  dis- 
tasteful to  them.  By  the  automatic  working  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  we  were  always  compelled  to  preside 
over  these  stormy  settlement  days  with  a  public  minister, 
a  warship  or  two,  and  sometimes  with  a  fleet;  the  ex- 
perience had  often  been  vexatious  and  it  frequently 
led  to  vexatious  Incidents,  and  a  plan  by  which  a  recur- 
rence of  such  Incidents  could  be  prevented  was  wel- 
comed with  an  enthusiasm  which  perhaps  blinded  us  to 
the  remoter  consequences  of  the  step. 

However,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  accepted  responsi- 
bility, and  the  whole  Dominican  debt  question  was  ex- 
amined Into.  Some  of  the  amounts  were  scaled  down 
in  a  reasonable  spirit,  and  some  of  the  more  outrageous 
claims  were  disallowed.  The  debt  was  bonded  and  the 
bonds  became  a  first  lien  on  the  Dominican  custom- 
houses, whose  revenue  the  convention  provided  should 
be  collected  under  the  supervision  and  control  of  Ameri- 
can officials.     Doubtless  this  step,  without  precedent  in 


26  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

our  history,  was  In  the  embarrassing  circumstances  the 
wisest  and  the  most  economical  course  to  pursue;  cer- 
tainly none  of  the  alternative  plans  promised  immedi- 
ate satisfactory  results.  Still  we  have  assumed  grave 
financial  responsibilities  in  a  Caribbean  state  where  the 
political  fabric  is  of  the  flimsiest  and  the  ideas  of  law 
and  order,  among  the  classes  which  have  too  often 
directed  the  destinies  of  the  country,  but  rudimentary. 
For  fifty  years  to  come  at  least,  the  custom-houses  of 
Santo  Domingo  are  as  much  under  our  protection  and 
control  as  are  the  custom-houses  of  Portland,  New  York, 
or  Galveston.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  we  have  assumed 
in  a  sense  a  financial  protectorate  over  Santo  Domingo, 
a  financial  tie  which,  as  between  a  strong  state  and  a 
weak  one,  has  in  the  past  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe 
almost  invariably  led  to  a  closer  political  connection. 
We  have  undeniably  assumed  responsibilities  which  may 
become  at  any  moment  extremely  onerous.  We  are  not 
only  bound  to  protect  Santo  Domingo  from  foreign 
enemies  (that  was  often  our  function  in  former  days), 
but  now  we  will  have  to  suppress  all  revolutionary 
movements  which  shall  endanger  the  orderly  collection 
of  the  customs,  and  this  they  all  do,  as  the  possession 
of  a  custom-house  alone  furnishes  the  sinews  of  war. 
It  is  also  well  to  remember — though  the  line  of  thought 
suggested  is  an  unpleasant  one — that  there  are  two  or 
three  other  Latin-American  states  bordering  on  the 
Caribbean  whose  fiscal  affairs  are  as  ripe  for  American 
intervention  as  were  those  of  the  luckless  Dominican 
Republic  three  years  ago. 

Exhibiting  that  false  pride  which  apes  humility,  I 
shall  not  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  saying  that  in  the 
government  of  Porto  Rico,  the  first  colony  of  our  coun- 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  27 

try,  our  success  has  been  remarkable.  Not  only  have 
the  thirteen  years  of  our  administration  in  this  little- 
known  island  been  so  many  object  lessons  in  capacity 
and  in  honesty  to  the  Porto  Ricans,  but  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  our  so-called  self-governing  communities  at 
home  as  well.  To  Porto  Rico  we  have  given  unspar- 
ingly of  our  best  and  our  most  intelligent,  and  in  a 
new  field  the  assimilative  and  governmental  genius  of 
our  race  has  been  strikingly  displayed.  Indeed,  I  hold 
that  we  are  under  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  these  islanders. 
We  have  not  only  won  laurels  in  their  service,  but  our 
pockets  have  profited,  which  is  always  a  pleasant  fact 
to  chronicle  in  this  age  of  relentless  economic  struggle. 

The  Porto  Ricans,  especially  the  landowners,  have 
grown  rich  under  the  protection  of  our  flag  and  foster- 
ing tariffs,  beyond  the  dreams  which  even  the  most 
avaricious  among  them  permitted  themselves  in  the 
days  before  our  coming,  and  our  own  commerce  and 
industries  have  greatly  profited  by  their  prosperity. 
Custom-house  statistics  show  that  in  the  last  fiscal  year 
we  have  sold  to  Porto  Rico  $25,000,000  worth  of 
goods,  an  amount  which  equals,  if  it  does  not  perhaps 
surpass,  the  total  of  our  business  in  the  great  markets 
of  China.  Here,  indeed,  trade  has  followed  the  flag, 
and  in  no  other  way  can  the  potential  value  of  the  West 
Indian  market  be  more  strikingly  illustrated  than  by  in- 
sisting upon  and  emphasising  these  remarkable  figures. 

Porto  Rico  would  be  a  terrestrial  paradise  but  for 
a  few  political  grievances,  some  real  and  some  imagi- 
nary, which  its  inhabitants  cherish,  while  just  across  the 
narrow  seas  the  Dutch  and  Danish  islands  are  going 
to  rack  and  ruin,  the  French  islands  seem  to  be  drift- 
ing   steadily    toward    a    race    struggle    of    the    Santo 


28  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Domingo  variety,  while  even  in  the  English  islands  the 
crowded  blacks,  with  all  their  loyalty  to  the  Union  Jack, 
under  which  they  have  for  so  long  enjoyed  liberty  and 
even-handed  justice,  are  near  starvation,  as  near  as  peo- 
ple can  be  who  live  in  nature's  most  generous  garden. 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  these  unfortunate  people  are 
beginning  to  say  to  themselves  and  sometimes  aloud  on 
the  stump:  "  We  wish  we  could  work  under  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  and  return  at  night  to  sleep  under  the 
Union  Jack.  Isn't  there  some  way  that  this  could  be 
arranged?  " 

In  Mexico  the  fall  of  the  Diaz  dynasty  in  May,  191 1, 
and  the  failure  of  the  Madero  regime  to  restore  tran- 
quillity to  the  country,  natural  and  to  be  expected  as  it 
was,  has  projected  another  political  problem  into  the 
arena  of  the  Caribbean  world;  one  that  very  nearly 
affects  our  Interests  and  which  may  press  very  urgently 
for  a  solution  at  an  early  day.  As  an  eyewitness  of 
much  that  took  place  in  Mexico  during  and  after  the 
revolution,  I  shall  go  Into  the  conditions  that  exist 
in  our  sister  republic  at  some  length  in  another  place.* 

To  resume,  our  colonial  problem  Is  one  that  presses 
for  a  formula.  The  question  of  what  our  legal  rela- 
tions should  be  to  non-contiguous  territory  and  to  popu- 
lations alien  In  race  and  in  Institutions,  almost  In  civilisa- 
tion, is  one  that  should  be  engrossing  the  minds  of  our 
legislators  and  the  best  thought  of  our  country.  The 
trend  towards  colonial  expansion  is  undoubtedly  the 
principal  phenomenon  of  the  political  world  to-day.  We 
cannot  hope  to  escape  the  world  currents  In  which  all  the 
great  powers  are  involved,  but  we  can  renounce  our 
present  drifting  course,  we  can  formulate  a  policy,  we 
can  maintain  some  control  of  our  ship  of  state. 
*See  also  footnote  at  end  of  chapter. 


THE  CARIBBEAN  WORLD  29 

France  is  profiting  to-day  very  materially  from  the 
colonial  empire  which  she  had  the  courage  to  found, 
and  the  tenacity  and  forethought  to  foster  while  yet  in 
the  shadow  of  Sedan,  and  staggering  under  the  burden 
of  the  German  tribute.  To-day  the  German  emperor 
and  his  people  with  their  highly-developed  industries, 
avidous  of  new  markets,  would  give  the  bones  of  many 
Pomeranian  grenadiers  for  the  colonial  possessions 
which  Bismarck  spurned  in  his  historic  speech. 

Note. — The  United  States  Government  has  repeatedly  refused  to 
acknowledge  the  belligerency  of  theOrozquistas  and  the  Zapatistas  or 
any  other  faction  or  fraction  of  the  present  revolutionary  movement 
in  Mexico.  That  the  administration  in  Washington  will  not  change 
its  views  upon  this  very  important  question  is  often  given  by  the 
revolutionists  as  the  reason  for  and  the  justification  of  the  outrages 
they  have  frequently  inflicted  upon  Americans. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Government  in  Washington  has  taken 
cognisance  of  a  state  of  war  in  the  neighbouring  republic  by  two 
extremely  significant  acts:  by  the  note  of  April  14th,  1912,  signed 
by  the  Hon.  Huntington  Wilson,  Acting  Secretary  of  State,  in 
which  it  was  declared  that  the  United  States  would  hold  both 
"Mexico  and  the  Mexican  people  responsible  for  all  wanton  sacri- 
ficing or  endangering  of  American  property  or  interests"  and  by 
sending  the  army  transport  Buford  down  the  west  coast  to  relieve 
and  bring  away  Americans  who  desired  to  leave  Mexico. 

Through  Consul  Letcher  at  Chihuahua  the  U.  S.  Government 
took  the  unusual  step  of  putting  itself  into  direct  communication 
with  General  Orozco  and  warned  him  not  only  to  respect  the 
property  interests  of  Americans  and  guard  the  persons  of  Ameri- 
cans from  injury,  but  to  recognise  American  Consular  officers. 
President  Madero,  in  his  protest  against  the  course  which  the 
administration  pursued  in  this  matter,  said  : 

"The  Mexican  Government  regrets  exceedingly  that  your  Gov- 
ernment should  have  sent  to  Orozco  a  note  identical  with  that  to 
which  I  have  the  honour  to  reply." 


CHAPTER  II 

Cuba — Fourteen  Years  After 

I  CAME  back  to  Cuba  after  an  absence  of  ten  years, 
enchained  by  the  hospitality  of  the  American  navy. 
We  of  the  little  cruiser  Tacoma  made  a  pleasant  voy- 
age from  San  Juan,  in  Porto  Rico,  along  the  northern 
coast  of  Santo  Domingo  and  Hayti,  and  it  was  espe- 
cially pleasant  when  we  got  behind  the  line  of  northern 
reefs  and  the  great  rolling  waves  from  the  Western 
ocean  had  to  stop  bullying  the  'prentice  boys  from  the 
inland  states  and  the  captain's  guest.  We  caught  a 
glimpse,  as  we  went  by,  of  Samana  Bay,  which  Grant 
coveted  so  ardently,  and  we  had  a  sight  of  the  lee  shore 
of  old  Cape  Francis,  where  Barney  and  many  another 
of  our  revolutionary  naval  heroes  led  apparently  the 
roystering  lives  of  gentlemen  adventurers  when  their 
ungrateful  country,  having  no  further  need  of  their 
services,  left  them  to  shift  for  themselves. 

Mole  St.  Nicholas  we  saw,  or  imagined  we  saw,  in 
the  soft,  tropical  haze,  and  then  Cape  Maisi  rose  out  of 
the  sea.  There  was  no  mistaking  this  familiar  Carib- 
bean landmark. 

We  had  been  steaming  through  a  solitary  sea  with- 
out a  ship  or  a  sail,  when,  suddenly,  we  came  into  the 
broad  way  of  the  Windward  Passage.  Fruit  steamers 
came  up  out  of  the  Jamaican  horizon,  all  flying  our 
flag  and  saluting  our  captain's  ensign.  It  was  like  get- 
ting home  again.     But  to  the  captain  and  to  me  the 

30 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  31 

sea  was  dotted  with  many  ships  which  only  he  and  I 
could  see.  We  were  on  the  line  now  of  the  voyage 
which  our  armada  made  to  Cuba  in  '98.  In  it  Captain 
Hood  held  his  first  command  and  I  was  an  humble  camp- 
follower.  To  us  the  sea  was  studded  with  phantom 
ships  and  peopled  with  an  army  which  will  never  assem- 
ble again  because  it  has  passed  into  history.  After  our 
ship's  crew,  in  honour  of  the  place,  had  celebrated  the 
monthly  general  muster,  the  captain  and  I  began  to 
pick  out  landmarks  and  drop  buoys  on  our  scribbling 
pads  for  the  benefit  of  future  historians.  Was  it  not 
here  that  the  captain  of  the  transport  Gussie,  always  to 
the  front,  had  asked  permission  of  the  Commander-in- 
chief  to  water  his  thirsty  mules  (the  commoner  liquid 
having  given  out)  with  a  shandygaff  of  soda  water  and 
lemonade?  Was  it  not  there  that  the  little  midshipmite, 
ten  days  out  of  Annapolis,  explained  his  position  to 
General  Shafter  to  avoid  any  future  misunderstanding? 
He  was  signal-boy  on  board,  and  as  far  as  he  could 
make  out,  according  to  the  regulations,  his  was  an  in- 
dependent command,  and  he  could  only  receive  orders 
from  the  Commander-in-chief  of  everything  afloat,  but 
favours  he  would  gladly  do  for  the  Major-General. 
Curiously  enough  the  incident  that  came  back  to  me 
with  the  greatest  force  and  power  upon  re-visiting  these 
stirring  scenes,  was  the  memory  of  a  midnight  talk  with 
Admiral  Sampson  on  board  his  flagship,  the  New  York. 
Like  most  silent,  word-sparing  men,  how  impressively 
and  how  eloquently  he  could  talk  when  the  spirit  moved 
him,  and  he  thought  it  worth  while !  Some  idle  words 
of  mine  about  Japan  broke  down  our  great  command- 
er's barriers  of  reserve,  his  own  memories  of  the  Empire 
of  the  Rising  Sun  rushed  their  floodgates,  and  for  several 


32  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hours  he  dismissed  apparently  all  thought  of  Spain  and 
Cuba  from  his  mind,  the  blue  prints  were  ignored,  and 
the  man  who  was  carrying  forty  men-of-war  in  his  head, 
apparently  for  the  time  devoted  his  whole  force  and 
being  to  expressing  the  admiration  with  which  the 
Japanese  had  inspired  him,  in  equal  measure  for  their 
warlike  and  their  civic  virtues. 

We  must  be  inherently  a  peaceful  people.  Here  we 
are,  ensconced  in  Guantanamo  Bay  for  ten  years,  and 
we  have  not  raised  a  finger  to  fortify  what  the  Russians 
or  the  Japanese,  or  any  other  predatory  people,  would 
immediately  convert  into  a  great  naval  station  and  cita- 
del, and  proudly  christen  "  Mistress  of  the  Caribbean." 
Here  all  the  West  Indian  conquerors  have  come  and 
builded  themselves  a  safe  repair;  here  flit  about  the 
ghosts  of  Morgan  and  of  Sir  Olive  Leigh,  Cortez, 
Quevado,  and  a  host  of  others;  here  in  safety  from  the 
storms  they  awaited  the  coming  of  the  plate  ships  and 
the  golden  argosies;  here  the  men  of  Devon  careened 
and  caulked  their  sloops  of  war  and  prepared  to  singe 
the  King  of  Spain's  beard  or  to  loot  his  most  precious 
possessions.  From  here,  in  a  later  day,  more  careful  of 
appearances  and  consequently  armed  with  the  King's 
warrant.  Admiral  Vernon  sailed  for  Porto  Bello  and 
later  for  Cartagena  with  the  loyal  North  American  as 
deck-passenger.  Here  we,  too,  came  in  the  dawn  of  the 
war  of  '98,  following  the  precedent  of  the  sea  rulers 
unbroken  throughout  three  centuries;  here  Sampson 
came  to  coal  his  ships,  and  here  he  sent  M'Calla  and 
his  marines  on  land  to  raise  the  flag  to  the  breeze  and 
form  our  first  camp  on  shore. 

By  a  treaty  arrangement  with  the  Cubans  the  soil 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  33 

which  the  marines  won  with  their  blood  is  now  In  our 
possession,  and  here,  as  many  fear,  are  being  assembled 
the  ships  and  the  men  and  the  stores  that  will  one  day- 
lead  to  and  make  easy  the  conquest  of  the  Caribbean. 
But  let  Milk  Street  dismiss  its  fears;  we  have  been  In 
this  nursery  of  war  for  ten  years  and  have  risen 
pacifically  superior  to  the  genius  of  the  place.  The  few 
cannon  which  the  Spaniards  left  have  been  distributed 
in  museums  at  home,  and  apparently  no  new  ones  have 
come  to  take  their  place.  To-day  Guantanamo,  the 
Vladivostok  of  the  American  Mediterranean,  Is  only 
defended  by  its  high  and  ancient  renown,  by  an  un- 
armoured  receiving-ship,  with  rubber  plants  and  other 
trees  growing  out  of  its  deck,  that  looks  as  if  It  had 
come,  not  for  a  career  of  conquest,  but  to  stick  fast  In 
the  mud  for  all  time. 

It  is  true  that  before  we  had  become  accustomed  to 
the  weight  of  the  new  responsibilities  which  the  Spanish 
war  shouldered  upon  us,  and  perhaps  careless  of  them, 
some  defensive  plans  were  made  and  drawn  up  and 
blue-printed,  and  wise-looking  men  came  with  strange 
machines  for  measuring  water  and  the  land,  and  brought 
voluminous  books  for  the  recording  of  the  same;  they 
came  and  camped  a  long  time  behind  the  stockade  and 
fought  mosquitoes  where  the  marines  had  fought  Span- 
lards,  but  they  were  peaceful  men  at  heart,  and  they 
wiped  out  the  last  traces  of  Guantanamo's  former  war- 
like state  by  filling  up  the  historic  rifle-pits  of  the 
marines  because,  forsooth,  they  were  excellent  breeding- 
places  for  mosquitoes! 

And  the  carefully  drawn-up  plans  were  never  carried 
out.  In  default  of  a  Congressional  appropriation,  it  Is 
said;  certain  only  It  Is,  however,  that  they  were  never 


34  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

carried  out.  And  of  the  other  defensive  measures  rec- 
ommended as  imperatively  necessary  by  the  strategists 
only  one  has  been  executed,  and  that  is  a  little  dredging; 
but  as  we  have  only  dredged  in  that  small  fraction  of 
the  harbour  which  is  openly  and  directly  exposed  to  the 
fire  of  ships  outside,  this  dredging  can  hardly  be  re- 
garded as  a  defensive  measure. 

Our  failure  to  carry  out  the  plans  or  the  purpose 
for  which  this  great  naval  station  was  obtained  is  said 
to  be  owing  to  a  disagreement  between  naval  and  army 
authorities  as  to  its  availability.  The  General  Staff 
of  the  army  is  strongly  in  favour  of  Panama  as  a  naval 
and  military  base. 

Governor  Magoon,  who  presided  over  our  second  inter- 
vention in  Cuban  affairs,  was  a  large  man,  about  the  size 
of  his  immediate  predecessor,  President  Taft,  and  about 
ten  times  the  size  of  little  Weyler,  whom  I  often  saw 
seated  in  his  place,  but  not  in  his  chair,  years  ago.  The 
Governor  was  not  an  impulsive  man,  and  he  had  not  a 
Latin  trait  in  his  composition.  His  maner  and  general 
make-up  was  the  direct  antithesis  of  all  that  Cubans  had 
hitherto  esteemed  and  admired  in  their  viceroys,  and 
yet  the  provisional  governor  was  very  popular  among 
many  classes  of  the  strange,  unruly  community  over 
which  he  presided.  Of  that  there  can  be  no  doubt.  I 
was  deeply  impressed  with  the  Governor's  sincerity  and 
with  his  singleness  of  purpose.  He  took  the  greatest 
interest  in  the  efforts  which  I  made  to  get  at  the  work- 
ings of  the  administration  over  which  he  presided,  and 
in  furthering  my  work  placed  me  under  obligation  which 
I  thought  best  to  repay  by  telling  him  of  the  charges 
that  were  brought  against  him  and  his  administration 
by  anonymous  Cubans  as  I  met  them  on  trains  and  in 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  35 

steamers,  in  cafes  and  hotels.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  they  attributed  to  the  provisional  governor  all  the 
failings  of  venality  and  corruption  which  were  attrib- 
uted, and  correctly  attributed  I  believe,  to  General 
Weyler  in  his  day.  Governor  Magoon  was  pleased 
and  thanked  me  for  my  candour,  and  he  said  slowly: 

"  From  some  quarters  I  have  not  expected  justice, 
much  less  gratitude — indeed,  I  counted  not  upon  it 
from  any  quarter,  but  I  must  say  it  has  been  lavished 
upon  me  in  a  far  greater  measure  than  I  have  deserved. 
There  is  only  one  of  these  charges  that  I  could  deign 
to  answer,  and  that  is  as  to  the  exercise  of  the  pardon- 
ing power  which  some  of  these  critics  find  excessive  and 
for  which  they  ascribe  venal  reasons.  They  say  I  have 
pardoned  nearly  eight  hundred  men  out  of  prison.  I 
believe  these  numbers  are  approximately  correct,  but  all 
the  rest  of  the  yarn  is  invention.  I  have  always  borne  in 
mind,  and  I  think  my  critics  have  not,  that  I  succeeded 
Judge  Taft  as  provisional  governor  of  the  island  when 
opposing  factions  of  the  people  were  at  each  other's 
throats  and  the  conditions  for  more  than  a  year  had 
been  approaching  anarchy.  You  must  also  take  into 
consideration — I  certainly  thought  I  should — the  tur- 
bulent and  disorderly  political  conditions  which  had 
prevailed  for  fully  ten  years  previous  to  our  interven- 
tion. Now  my  critics  say  that  many — that,  in  fact,  a 
great  majority — of  those  who  have  benefited  by  my  ex- 
ercise of  the  pardoning  power  had  been  convicted  of 
offences  which  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  politics. 
Well,  I  answer  them  flatly,  they  are  wrong.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  know  everything  about  Cuba — I  only  wish 
I  did — but  there  is  one  thing  I  do  know,  and  that  is 
that  nothing  has  happened  in  Cuba  during  the  last  ten 
years  that  was  wholly  foreign  to  politics.  Every  case 
that  came  before  me  had  a  political  complexion  evident 
or  latent;  there  were  men  who  had  been  sentenced  to 
prison  by  courts  that  did  not  sit  in  a  judicial  atmosphere; 


36  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

it  was  a  time  when  party  hatreds  and  rancour  ran  high 
and  personal  feeling  and  party  ties  actuated,  uncon- 
sciously I  have  no  doubt,  but  none  the  less  truly  and 
wrongfully,  many  judges  in  the  land.  Many  of  these 
sentences  seemed  too  long,  many  absolutely  unjust,  and 
the  bitterness  which  they  engendered  doomed  to  failure 
in  advance  all  our  plans  for  pacification.  My  role,  you 
see,  was  to  pacify,  to  assuage  the  angry  passions  that 
had  been  aroused.  I  think  the  results  have  justified 
my  merciful  action  in  almost  every  instance.  The  talk 
about  half  the  men  whom  I  have  pardoned  out  being 
back  in  jail  is  simply  an  outrageous  falsehood.  I  can 
only  remember  two  instances  of  this,  but  I  can  remem- 
ber fifty  instances  of  men  whom  I  pardoned  and  who,  al- 
though they  have  only  been  at  liberty  a  few  months,  have 
already  rendered  extremely  valuable  services  to  Cuba." 

I  take  the  liberty  of  giving  this  conversation  in  full 
because  I  think  it  answers  very  successfully  the  only 
substantial  charge,  in  a  shower  of  slander,  that  was 
brought  against  the  provisional  governor.  I  also  give 
it  because  it  discloses  an  intimate  view  of  a  very  re- 
markable man  who,  under  trying — almost  intolerable — 
circumstances,  showed  administrative  talents  of  a  high 
order,  which  have  not  been  generally  appreciated. 

The  official  bond  that  binds  us  to  Cuba  is  the  widely 
known  but  little  understood  Piatt  Amendment.*  It  is  a 
very  important  piece  of  legislation,  and  yet  wherever 
mentioned,  whether  in  Washington  or  in  Cuban  official 
circles,  there  ensues  a  gravelike  silence.  I  for  one  pro- 
pose to  break  this  conspiracy  of  silence,  if  such  it  be. 
It  seems  to  me  that,  if  not  already  too  late,  the  time  for 
frank  speaking  has  come. 

*The  text  of  the  Piatt  Amendment  is  given  in  Appendix  A,  Note 
II,  page  404. 


fe 


u 


u 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  37 

The  Piatt  Amendment  is  not  only  hated  but  held  in 
abhorrence  by  the  great  majority  of  Cubans.  It  was 
only  accepted  and  so  became  a  part  of  their  constitu- 
tion and  public  law  because  their  political  leaders  be- 
lieved that  our  evacuation  of  the  island  would  other- 
wise have  been  postponed.  It  was  not  accepted  in  good 
faith  by  the  Cuban  Congress  and  every  attempt  to  dis- 
regard the  spirit,  if  not  the  letter,  of  this  law  is  praised 
as  patriotic.  At  times  I  think  it  is  as  well  to  be  em- 
phatic. No  man  in  public  life  to-day  in  Cuba  would 
dare  to  openly  approve  the  Piatt  Amendment  as  a  fair 
and  equitable  adjustment  of  the  peculiar  relations  that 
exist  between  the  Cuban  and  the  American  people. 

There  is  nothing  to  choose  between  the  attitude  of  the 
liberal  and  conservative  leaders  in  this  regard.  In 
politics,  Menocal,  who  received  his  education,  his  early 
training,  his  start  in  life,  everything  that  he  possesses 
from  the  United  States,  is  as  anti-American  as  is  Gomez 
or  Zayas,  who  are  more  distinctly  Latin  types.  This 
unhappy  state  of  affairs  is  not  due  as  some  think  to  any 
constitutional  want  of  character  and  reliability  on  the 
part  of  the  Cuban  people,  but  simply  because  they  have 
been  taught  to  believe  by  their  natural  leaders  and 
teachers  that  the  passage  of  the  Piatt  Amendment  by 
our  Senate  was  a  gross  breach  of  faith  which  justifies 
any  form  of  reprisal,  open  or  covert. 

Upon  the  stump  and  in  the  coffee-houses  a  noisy  orator 
before  a  densely  ignorant  audience  can  ring  very  con- 
vincing changes  upon  this  subject,  and  yet  as  a  matter 
of  fact  the  hated  Amendment  only  puts  into  concrete 
form  our  attitude  towards  the  island  of  Cuba  which 
has  been  invariably  maintained  ever  since  Jefferson 
recognised  that   Cuba   commanded  the  mouth   of   the 


38  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Mississippi  and  the  entrance  to  our  Gulf  ports;  that  in 
consequence  we  could  not  remain  indifferent  to  the  condi- 
tion of  the  island  or  to  the  form  of  governmenM)revail- 
ing  there.  ^ 

Very  openly  Cuban  politicians  and  Cuban  journalists, 
almost,  if  not  quite,  without  exception,  charge  the  Gov- 
ernment In  Washington  with  a  gross  breach  of  all  the 
generous  promises  which  were  made  when  the  war  with 
Spain  was  declared.  For  proof  of  their  assertions  they 
point  to  the  Piatt  Amendment,  and  they  can  point  to 
nothing  else.  Far  from  being,  as  the  Cuban  editors  and 
demagogues  claim,  the  clear  proof  of  our  bad  faith, 
the  Piatt  Amendment  Illustrates  what  the  European 
foreign  offices  are  generally  pleased  to  describe  as  our 
quixotic  disinterestedness  In  the  whole  Cuban  Imbroglio. 
In  this  important  Instrument  the  new  conditions  that 
have  arisen  and  the  rights  derived  from  a  costly  war 
are  not  referred  to,  much  less  recognised  and  consecrated 
in  treaty  form.  In  the  Piatt  Amendment  there  Is  noth- 
ing new,  but  there  Is  set  forth  and  described,  more 
precisely  than  ever  before,  our  attitude  to  the  island 
as  It  was  Interpreted  in  the  days  of  Spanish  supremacy 
by  Adams  and  by  Everett,  and  in  the  days  of  the  oc- 
cupation by  McKInley  and  by  John  Hay. 

With  the  exception  of  the  demand  for  the  few  acres 
of  desert  land  around  the  Guantanamo  naval  station 
which  our  marines  watered  with  their  blood,  shed  freely 
in  the  liberation  of  Cuba,  the  Piatt  Amendment  con- 
tains no  demand  or  proviso  that  will  not  be  found  fully 
sustained  and  very  formally  Incorporated  in  the  famous 
Cuban  correspondence  of  seventy-five  years  ago  between 
Lord  Malmesbury  and  Edward  Everett.  Our  attitude, 
which  political  and  geographical  conditions  impose  upon 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  39 

us,  whether  we  like  it  or  not,  has  not  changed  one  iota 
from  that  distant  day  to  this.  We  do  not  say  that  the 
thousands  of  men  who  died  and  the  millions  of  money 
that  were  spent  in  the  liberation  of  Cuba  have  given  us 
any  new  rights  upon  the  island,  or  rather,  any  that  we 
care  to  assert.  But  we  do  maintain  that  this  expendi- 
ture of  men  and  money  has  not  cancelled  the  rights 
and  the  duties  which  we  already  possessed. 

Cuba  was  not  absolutely  independent  of  the  United 
States  in  the  days  of  Spanish  supremacy,  and  it  cannot 
hope  to  escape  a  certain  supervision  and  control  now 
that  American  intervention  has  given  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  island  a  chance  to  enjoy  home  rule  and  that  meas- 
ure of  autonomy  which  only  they  themselves  can  for- 
feit. 

With  the  withdrawal  of  Governor  Magoon  and  the 
provisional  government,  time  marked  a  period  in  the 
story  of  our  relations  with  Cuba.  General  Jose  Miguel 
Gomez  has  now  presided  over  the  destinies  of  the  sec- 
ond Cuban  Republic  for  three  years,  and  it  seems  to  me 
high  time  to  take  stock  of  a  situation  in  which  we  are 
so  closely  involved.  The  legislation  of  the  new  Con- 
gress is  as  openly  hostile  to  our  interests  as  it  dares  to 
be,  and  our  diplomatic  representatives  are  not  always 
receiving  the  consideration  to  which  they  are  entitled. 

In  the  months  that  have  passed  the  criticisms  that 
were  made  so  freely  and  so  fiercely  of  various  acts  of 
the  provisional  government  have  largely  fallen  to  the 
ground.  It  is  now  admitted  that  the  treasury  was 
not  empty  and  consequently  it  did  not  become  necessary 
to  raise  a  loan  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  the  govern- 
ment. The  roads  which  Colonel  Black  built  are  recog- 
nised as  models  all  over  the  world,  and  engineers  with 


40  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

similar  highways  to  build  in  tropical  countries  are  visit- 
ing Cuba  for  the  purpose  of  profiting  by  his  experi- 
ences. 

There  has  been  no  general  uprising  in  the  country, 
but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Gomez  administration 
is  a  disappointment.  Of  course  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  difficulties  in  the  path  of  the  new  President 
are  very  great.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  General  Gomez 
by  his  lavish  election  promises  and  campaign  engage- 
ments created  his  own  greatest  difficulties.  His  method 
of  government  has  been  simplicity  itself.  A  fat  office 
must  be  given  to  an  uneasy  spirit.  Any  man  who  might 
go  out  into  the  woods  must  be  anchored  in  an  office 
with  no  work  but  high  pay  attached,  or  he  must  be 
sent  on  a  mission  abroad  at  the  expense  of  the  treasury. 
This  method  of  government  cannot  go  on  much  longer. 
It  has  already  gone  nearly  as  far  as  the  resources  of  the 
republic  permit.  The  preferential  tariff  by  means  of 
which  Cuba's  sugar  has  access  to  our  markets  has  in- 
creased trade  and  enhanced  the  value  of  the  cane- 
fields,  but  It  has  not  brought  with  it  that  feeling  of 
security  without  which  any  decided  Improvement  In  the 
economic  conditions  of  the  country  Is  Impossible. 

Gomez  has  catered  to  the  negro  population  as  he 
promised  he  would  do  In  his  electoral  propaganda,  but 
he  has  not  given  every  negro  voter  an  office  and  the  race 
passions  are  rising.  I  have  recently  received  many 
letters  from  prominent  Spanish  Inhabitants  and  on  one 
point  they  all  agree:  the  race  war,  long  slumbering,  is 
very  near  an  open  phase.  One  of  these  Spaniards,  who 
has  lived  in  Cuba  forty  years  and  has  directed  large 
commercial  affairs  which  bring  him  in  contact  with  all 
classes  and  conditions  of  people,  writes: 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  41 

"  Our  lives  would  not  be  worth  a  dollar's  purchase  if 
your  warships  were  not  there  just  across  the  strait.  The 
divisions  that  now  exist  between  parties,  the  various 
groups  of  conservatives  and  liberals,  are  purely  artificial. 
The  next  alignment  will  be  one  of  colour,  and  it  will 
be  so  because  the  negroes  insist  upon  it."  * 

Some  critics  of  the  American  occupation  of  Cuba  say 
that  we  are  directly  responsible  for  the  very  noticeable 
rise  of  race  feeling  during  the  last  decade.  Some  even 
assert  that  it  has  been  brought  about  by  the  quartering 
of  our  troops,  black  and  white,  in  the  country.  Noth- 
ing could  be  more  misleading  than  this  statement, 
though,  of  course,  our  soldiers,  white  and  black,  have 
carried  with  them  to  the  island  the  prejudices  and  the 
antagonisms  that  prevail  at  home.  I  spent  much  time, 
however,  in  Cuba  in  1896  and  in  1897,  long  before 
actual  American  intervention  had  become  a  reality  or 
was  even  dreamed  of,  and  the  negro  question  and  the 
fear  of  the  blacks  were  then  rampant  throughout  the 
island,  in  the  large  cities,  the  centres  of  civilisation,  as 
well  as  on  the  lonely  plantations.  It  was  one  of  the 
handicapping  circumstances  with  which  the  revolution- 
ary movement  had  to  contend.  After  all,  in  Spain, 
with  all  her  faults,  there  was  protection  from  the  black 
peril.  Negro  hoodlums  organised  into  secret  societies, 
and  generally  known  as  Naiiigos,  committed,  even  in 
those  days,  many  crimes  invariably  directed  against  the 
whites,  and  they  openly  terrorised  many  communities. 

Of  course  this  rising  wave  of  lawlessness  is  not  pecu- 

*  Since  the  foregoing  was  written  something  very  like  a  race  war 
has  broken  out  in  eastern  Cuba.  The  preparations  for  intervention 
by  the  Taft  administration  had  more  to  do  with  suppressing  this  out- 
break than  had  the  Cuban  soldiers  and  police. 


42  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

liar  to  Cuba,  though  it  has  taken  a  more  pronounced 
form  there  than  elsewhere.  It  is  a  significant  feature 
of  all  West  Indian  life  during  the  last  half-century,  and 
almost  equally  striking  manifestations  of  it  have  been 
seen  in  the  French  and  English,  the  Dutch  and  the 
Danish  islands.  In  this  part  of  the  world  the  old  order 
of  things  has  changed,  and  the  new  order  has  not  been 
installed.  There  are  influences  at  work,  not  very  con- 
siderable, it  is  true,  but  still  at  work,  and  on  the  spot, 
in  the  hope  that  the  new  order  never  will  be  installed. 
During  the  month  I  spent  in  Cuba  at  election  time, 
when  much  that  is  usually  submerged  came  to  the  sur- 
face, I  crossed  and  recrossed  the  island  from  Santiago 
to  Pinar  del  Rio,  I  came  in  contact  with  men  of  all 
classes  and  of  all  colours,  with  foreigners  and  with 
natives,  and  I  met  no  one  who  was  not  of  the  opinion 
that  the  political  ferment  would  have  resulted  in  civil 
war  long  before  election  day  but  for  the  presence  of  the 
American  army  of  occupation.  Indeed  this  passive  con- 
trol became  active  in  Cienfuegos,  w^here  an  American 
officer  was  placed  in  charge  of  an  alarming  situation  at 
the  request  of  the  local  authorities,  and  in  Havana 
Major  Foltz  of  the  American  army,  by  his  timely  ap- 
pearance on  the  riotous  scene,  I  verily  believe,  on  elec- 
tion night,  saved  the  life  of  General  Menocal,  the  new 
Hotel  Sevilla  in  which  he  lived,  and  perhaps  the  whole 
foreign  quarter  of  the  capital,  which,  in  political  circulars 
at  least,  had  been  devoted  to  flames.  Not  one  of  the 
many  Cubans  of  every  colour  and  of  every  social  cate- 
gory with  whom  I  came  in  contact  expressed  the  belief 
in  even  the  possibility  of  Cuba  alone  and  unaided  solving 
the  problem  of  self-government,  and  of  standing  alone 
among  the  nations  with  which  it  is  confronted.     At 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  43 

least  two-thirds  of  those  with  whom  I  discussed  this 
question  were  of  the  opinion  that  another  intervention 
was  only  a  matter  of  time;  indeed,  of  a  very  short 
time.    No  one  man,  unless  it  be  Vice-President  Zayas, — 
and  even  his  utterance  was  vague  and  oracular, — ex- 
pressed the  slightest  hope  of  the  Cuban  people,  by  their 
own  strength  and  civic  virtues,  surmounting  the  difficul- 
ties which  the  young  republic  is  facing.  The  remain- 
ing third  kept  silence  in  answer  to  my  enquiries,  but  it 
was,  it  seemed  to  me,  a  silence  that  was  far  from  being 
non-committal.     I  should  say  that  this  want  of  confi- 
dence, wholly  justifiable  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  key  to 
the  whole  unsatisfactory  situation.     If  in  their  hearts 
the  best  elements  of  the  population  in  Cuba  have  not 
the  slightest  hope  of  maintaining  an  orderly  form  of 
government  for  any  length  of  time,  it  is  natural  that 
the  outside  world  should  share  this  impression.     For 
obvious  reasons,  this  is  a  question  upon  which  tactful 
Americans   never   should,    and   rarely   do,    express   an 
opinion ;  but  the  unfortunate  Europeans  who  have,  or 
hope  to  have  interests  in  the  island,   not  unnaturally 
regard  the  present  travesty  of  government  as  vexatious, 
futile,   and  in   execrable  taste,   and   naturally   enough 
from  this  quarter  the  responsibility  is  placed  upon  our 
shoulders.     It  has  seemed  to  me,  as  we  can  neither 
please  the  foreign  contingents  in  the  island  by  our  oc- 
cupation, nor  yet  by  our  withdrawal,  we  had  better  dis- 
miss them  from  our  minds,  in  so  far  as  our  responsibil- 
ity in  an  international  sense  through  the  Piatt  Amend- 
ment will  permit  us  to  do  so. 
There  is  still  great  commercial  prosperity*  throughout 

♦Tables  of  revenue,  commercial  and  agricultural  statistics,  are 
given  in  Appendix  A,  Note  I,  page  401. 


44  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  island,  and  this  is  particularly  true  of  the  country 
districts  where  cane  is  grown.  The  building  of  railroads, 
the  inflow  of  foreign  capital  which  the  American  occupa- 
tion invited,  the  preservation  of  law  and  order  which 
— In  the  main,  directly  or  indirectly — the  presence  of 
American  troops  has  made  possible,  and  the  lowering 
of  our  tariff  upon  Cuban  sugars,  have  all  contributed  to 
this  result,  which  in  its  effect  along  the  lines  of  the 
railways  borders  on  the  marvellous.  There  is,  however, 
neither  wealth  nor  prosperity  in  sight  which  could  with- 
stand for  any  length  of  time  the  Inroads  which  the 
liberal  politicians,  particularly  the  negro  partisans,  are 
making  upon  the  treasury,  and  in  which  President 
Gomez  acquiesces,  with,  whatever  his  real  feelings  may 
be,  apparent  cheerfulness.  Every  man  who  makes  a 
row  is  given  an  office,  and  lawlessness  is  forestalled  as 
much  as  possible  by  the  distribution  of  sinecures.  In 
the  face  of  these  developments  it  would  seem  to  most 
observers  that  President  Gomez  pursues  a  selfish  and 
cynical  rather  than  a  statesmanlike  course.  He  lights 
matches  and  plays  with  fire  apparently  quite  confident 
that,  should  a  conflagration  ensue,  we  should  have  to  In- 
tervene and  put  It  out  at  our  expense.  Our  role.  In  the 
eyes  of  the  professional  Cuban  politicians,  would  seem 
to  be  that  of  an  Insurance  company  such  as  never  existed 
In  this  selfish,  grasping  world;  one  that  would  employ 
fire-fighters  without  cost,  never  ask  clients  for  premiums, 
and  make  good  all  losses  promptly  and  with  thanks  for 
the  opportunity  of  altruistic  service. 

In  the  last  few  months  General  Gomez  has  gone  down 
hill  very  fast.  By  calling  to  his  cabinet  Sanguilly  to  repre- 
sent the  most  anti-American  elements  on  the  island,  and 
Morua,  a  coloured  man,  as  the  spokesman  of  the  low- 


CUBA— FOURTEEN  YEARS  AFTER  45 

est  class  of  Havana  negroes,  he  has  doubtless  relieved 
the  great  political  pressure  and  prolonged  somewhat  his 
tenure  of  office;  but  he  has  forfeited  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  many  of  his  followers,  and  he  has,  it  would 
seem,  brought  measurably  nearer  the  day  when  the  sec- 
ond Cuban  Republic,  as  at  present  constituted,  will 
resolve  itself  once  again  into  the  lawless  anarchic  ele- 
ments out  of  which  it  is  composed. 

The  demands  of  the  Veterans'  Association,  under  the 
leadership  of  General  Nufiez,  during  the  early  months 
of  19 1 2,  have  filleci  many  columns  of  the  papers  and 
given  rise  to  anxieties  which  are  not  without  justifica- 
tion, and  it  is  freely  prophesied  that  the  reef  is  now 
in  sight  upon  which  the  Cuban  ship  of  state  will  drift 
to  its  destruction.  I  confess  to  much  sympathy  with  the 
attitude  of  the  veterans.  The  presence  in  office  and  in 
positions  of  power  of  so  many  pro-Spanish  Cubans 
must  be  very  galling  to  the  men  who  helped  to  win  the 
war  and  whose  decimated  families  bore  the  brunt  of  the 
suffering.  Further,  in  my  judgment,  the  presence  in 
office  of  so  many  of  these  men  is  not  at  all  helpful  in 
securing  for  the  important  and  increasing  Spanish  popu- 
lation of  Cuba  that  even-handed  justice  to  which  they 
are  entitled. 

It  may  be  said  with  truth  that  the  only  redeeming 
feature  about  the  administration  of  Gomez  is  that, 
judging  from  what  he  allowed  his  orators  to  promise 
for  him  on  the  stump  and  in  his  presence,  General 
Menocal  would  not  have  filled  the  position  in  a  more 
conscientious  manner,  had  he  been  elected  to  it. 

The  other  salient  feature  of  the  situation,  which 
must  be  dwelt  upon  shortly,  is  the  Increase  of  the  anti- 
American  feeling  throughout  the  island  in  the  last  ten 


46  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

years.  It  has  long  existed,  but  it  has  increased  in 
virulence  and  in  scope  until  now  it  can,  without  exag- 
geration, be  compared  to  the  other  great  racial  hatreds 
which  have  changed  the  course  of  history,  such  as  the 
hatred  of  the  Venetians  and  the  Lombards  for  the  Aus- 
trians,  the  Slavs  for  the  Turks,  the  Koreans  for  the 
Japanese.  Both  of  the  parties  vied  in  heaping  insult 
and  disgraceful  charges  upon  our  heads  throughout  the 
last  presidential  campaign;  it  was  the  one  cry  which 
united  the  people,  and  never  failed  to  excite  the  weary 
electors  to  indescribable  displays  of  tropical  enthusiasm. 
Some  of  the  speeches  of  a  talented  orator,  one  Suarez 
Pardo,  a  partisan  of  General  Menocal's,  which  I  listened 
to  in  eastern  Cuba,  were  masterpieces  of  invective  as 
well  as  of  mendacity.  This  is  a  fact  that  should  never 
be  lost  sight  of  for  a  moment:  however  high  our 
deserts,  however  altruistic  our  conduct  may  appear  to  us, 
and  to  the  unbiased — the  sincerity  of  the  Cuban  hatred 
for  Americans  and  all  things  American  is  beyond  ques- 
tion. History  may  say  that  we  saved  the  Cubans  from 
extermination,  cleaned  them  up,  and  put  them  on  their 
feet  at  considerable  expense  in  men  and  money  to  our- 
selves, but  it  is  certain  that  the  only  feelings  which  we 
inspire  in  the  hearts  of  the  most  influential,  though  not 
the  most  respectable,  of  Cubans,  is  the  detestation  which 
the  Carbonari  had  for  the  white-coated  Austrians. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Black  Republic 

My  first  glimpse  of  Hayti,*  in  the  winter  of  1903, 
was  confessedly  superficial  and  fugitive.  It  left  upon 
my  mind,  however,  impressions  which  my  subsequent 
and  more  prolonged  visit,  in  1908,  I  regret  to  say  only 
served  to  confirm  and  to  deepen. 

We  were  sailing  on  a  little  Dutch  steamer,  as  neat 
as  a  new  pin,  and  our  course  lay  from  Surinam  to  New 
York  via  ports  of  the  Black  Republic.  Behind  us  was 
Paramaribo  with  its  Bush  negroes,  and  before  us  was 
New  York  with  many  desirable  things,  and  we  would 
have  been,  I  think,  as  happy  a  ship's  company  as  ever 
sailed  the  summer  seas  had  it  not  been  for  the  shadow 
of  a  little  transaction  in  real  estate  which  took  place 
between  Holland  and  England  many  years  ago,  but 
which  was  fresh  in  the  minds  of  our  skipper  and  the 
ship's  doctor.  Though  our  skipper  was  a  Hollander, 
whenever  the  treaty  of  Breda,  1669,  was  mentioned  his 
feelings  found  expression  in  straight  Yankee  talk. 
"  Say,  who  wrote  that  libel,  anyway? 

•  The  fault  of  the  Dutch 
Is  giving  too  little 
And  wanting  too  much.' 

Why,  we  gave  New  York  and  the  Hinterland  for 
that  Surinam  swamp  and  the  Bush  niggers.  What  do 
you  think  of  that?     It's  bad  enough  to  know  it,  but  it's 

*  A  short  sketch  of  Haytian  history  is  to  be  found  in  Appendix  B, 
Note  I,  page  405. 

47 


48  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hard  to  have  to  be  running  backward  and  forward 
as  I  have  been  for  ten  years  between  the  two  ends  of 
that  swap." 

We  comforted  the  captain  as  best  we  could,  but  we 
did  not  succeed  in  changing  the  subject  until  the  lofty 
headlands  of  Hayti  came  in  sight.  An  experienced 
traveller  in  the  West  Indies  has  said  that  these  islands 
are  politically  turbulent  in  exact  proportion  to  the 
rugosity,  as  he  calls  it,  of  their  physical  contour.  If 
this  is  so,  Hayti  has  a  natural  born  right  to  be  the 
most  revolutionary  of  them  all.  The  great  mountains 
rise  sheer  up  out  of  the  sea  and  flashing  streams  drop 
from  dizzy  heights  into  the  salt  water.  Jacmel  was 
our  first  port  of  call.  From  the  deck  it  seemed  the 
haven  of  our  dreams.  We  found  it  to  be,  however,  a 
simple  dung-heap  embowered  in  palm  trees.  When 
we  came  to  Jeremie  we  found  we  had  not  the  courage  to 
go  ashore.  Then  we  went  on  to  Aux  Cayes,  and  took  on 
board  a  lighter-load  of  the  aromatic  coftee  beans  which 
command  such  tremendous  prices  in  Amsterdam  and 
other  places  where  real  coftee  is  appreciated.  We  did 
not  land  here,  either,  feeling  it  wise  to  husband  our 
strength  for  our  approaching  visit  to  Port-au-Prince,  the 
capital  city.  Fortunately,  here  our  laziness  was  helped 
out  by  an  influx  of  first-class  passengers,  all  coal-black 
negroes  and  nearly  all  members  of  the  Parliament, 
which  Simon  Sam,  the  President  (or  was  it  Alexis 
Nord?),  had  ordered  to  assemble  shortly.  At  luncheon 
somebody  said  something  about  the  current  revolution, 
a  remark  which  was  resented  politely  but  firmly  by  a 
coal-black  deputy  with  a  Vandyke  beard. 

"  No,  monsieur,  that  is  an  error.  For  the  last  week 
the  republic  has  been  absolutely  at  peace.     For  the  last 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  49 

eight  days  not  a  shot  has  been  fired  In  earnest,  only 
fusillades  of  joy  over  the  victory  of  His  Excellency 
Simon  Sam." 

For  two  nights  and  a  day  we  now  steamed  in  a 
leisurely  Dutch  way  along  the  picturesque  shores  of  the 
little-known  island.  When  darkness  came,  upon  every 
promontory  and  headland  great  fires  were  lighted  which 
blazed  like  beacon  lights  throughout  the  night.  Some 
of  our  fellow-passengers  did  not  get  a  wink  of  sleep  or 
take  their  eyes  off  these  fires,  around  which  now  and 
then,  as  we  approached  near  enough,  we  could  dis- 
tinguish moving  hither  and  thither  a  number  of  human 
forms.  The  exciting  rumour  ran  that  before  our  very 
eyes  the  orgies  of  Voodoo  worship  were  being  enacted, 
and  perhaps  even  cannibal  banquets,  such  as  Sir  Spencer 
St.  John  describes,  were  in  progress.  For,  of  course, 
it  is  only  under  the  cover  of  night  that  the  snake  and 
Obi  worshippers  come  forth  to  engage  in  their  uncanny 
rites  under  their  aged  papalol  and  mamaloi  leaders. 
But  our  captain,  who  had  commercial  interests  at  stake 
in  the  island,  and  had  dared  to  lend  his  savings  to  the 
treasury  at  the  rate  of  two  per  cent,  per  month,  who 
cared  nothing  for  developing  the  tourists'  patronage  of 
his  line,  said  that  the  present  regime  on  shore  was  the 
best  imaginable  for  Hayti  and  the  pockets  of  the  few 
resident  foreigners.  As  for  the  mysterious  fires  he 
stated  that  they  were  lighted  by  folks  on  shore,  who 
were  burning  the  charcoal  they  needed  In  their  busi- 
ness. This  seemed  final  though  prosaic,  but  the  parlia- 
mentary delegation  who  sailed  with  us  put  a  new  aspect 
upon  the  rather  weird  phenomenon  by  announcing  that 
the  fires  were  lighted  and  kept  going  all  night  by  the 
people,  who  were  so  glad,  that  the  Incomparable  Simon 


50  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Sam  had  emerged  victorious  from  the  revolutionary 
melee,  and  that  peace  had  reigned  unbroken  fot  eight 
days;  and  so  many  plausible  though  inconclusive  ex- 
planations being  offered,  we  never  knew  the  secret  of 
the  flames,  but  yet  they  remained  the  most  characteristic 
picture  of  that  dark,  mysterious  island  almost  at  our 
very  gates,  which  lights  up  every  night,  no  one  knows 
why. 

In  the  grey  of  the  morning,  just  before  we  turned  the 
headland  to  enter  the  roadstead  of  Port-au-Prince,  two 
little  fishing-smacks  came  sailing  toward  us  out  of  the 
shadow  of  the  shore.  Their  crews  wore  tunics  and 
sashes  of  many  colours,  and  to  our  surprise  they  hailed 
us  in  the  lingua  franca  of  the  Mediterranean.  We 
slowed  down,  and  as  they  came  alongside  the  captain 
told  us  his  sea  friends  hailed  from  Genoa,  were  some 
of  those  migrant  fishermen  from  Italy  who  now  prac- 
tically monopolise  the  fisheries  of  the  West  Indies. 
When  they  begged  for  a  loan  of  a  barrel  of  water  the 
captain  pricked  up  his  ears  and  put  questions.  No, 
they  did  not  dare  to  go  into  port.  Per  Bacco!  On 
shore  all  men  of  olive  skin  were  being  trussed  up  like 
pigs  on  poles,  and  so,  little  by  little,  from  their  excited 
talk,  we  learned  the  details  of  the  latest  revolution  in 
Hayti,  the  revolt  against  the  Egyptians,  as  a  certain 
group  of  Syrian  money-lenders  were  called,  which  dur- 
ing the  last  week  had  shaken  the  financial  system  of  the 
island  to  its  very  foundation  and  caused  some  blood  to 
flow. 

"  They  are  killing  the  Egyptians  in  the  streets 
because  they  charge  ten  per  cent,  a  month  on  loans, 
and  then,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  per  Bacco !  they  want 
back  their  principal  again.    No,  we  sha'n't  dare  to  go  on 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  51 

shore  for  weeks.  We  have  olive  skins,  too,  and  they 
might  take  us  for  Egyptians.  The  blacks  are  such  ig- 
noranti,"  asserted  the  fishermen.  The  ship's  officers, 
who  were  one  and  all  as  blond  as  the  Vikings  of  old, 
thought  that  this  state  of  affairs  in  Port-au-Prince  was 
rather  amusing  and  would  add  an  unexpected  spice  to 
our  sojourn  there.  But  those  of  us  who  were  dark  and 
lean  and  might  be  taken  by  an  infuriated  mob  for  the 
usurious  Egyptians  did  not  receive  the  news  with  any 
particular  joy.  But,  after  all,  though  it  will  surprise 
some,  things  get  exaggerated  even  without  the  help  of 
newspapers.  When  we  entered  the  port  we  found  that 
only  three  pseudo-Egyptians  had  been  killed  and  about 
forty  wounded,  and  when  we  came  out  of  the  custom- 
house and  gazed  up  the  broad,  wretched  street  down 
which  a  sandstorm,  usual  to  the  season,  was  blowing 
with  great  velocity,  one  of  our  parliamentary  fellow- 
passengers  stepped  up  and  sought  to  calm  our  fears. 
"  True,  there  has  been  a  little  bloodshed,"  he  admitted, 
"  but  nothing  to  hurt,  and  now  I  have  conferred  with 
all  the  organs  of  government  and  can  assure  you  the 
incident  is  closed.  The  Guild  of  Egyptians  has  gone 
out  of  business  and  all  its  members  who  survived  arrest 
are  safe  in  jail.  Have  no  fear,  friends  from  the  great 
republic  of  the  North.  Hayti  is  at  peace  with  the  world 
and  itself  since  the  illustrious  Simon  Sam  [or  was  it 
Nord  Alexis?]  became  our  constitutional  sovereign  by 
right  of  conquest." 

However,  we  were  hopelessly  timid  folk  and  kept 
about  the  water-front  for  a  day  or  two.  Then  we  sum- 
moned courage  and  ventured  further  inland,  even  to 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  one  hundred  negroes, 
all  coal  black  and  many  wearing  frock  coats  of  French 


52  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

cut  and  pointed  beards, — rather  more  carefully  dressed, 
I  think  they  were,  than  our  own  legislators, — were  dis- 
cussing the  new  tariff  laws.  Everywhere  we  met  gangs 
of  ragged  policemen,  each  one  of  whom  wore  a  scarf 
of  silk  about  his  shoulders  bearing  the  device  in  French, 
"  The  law  supports  the  right."  So  we  became  bolder, 
and  at  last  ventured  to  visit  our  legation  and  Consul. 
This  official  was  absent,  he  being  also  accredited  to 
Santo  Domingo,  and  the  Consul-General  was  away  for 
his  health.  We  were  received  most  affably  by  his  sub- 
stitute, the  Vice-Consul,  a  coloured  gentleman  from 
Philadelphia. 

Before  we  well  knew  what  he  was  about  our  official 
representative  had  arranged  an  audience  with  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  republic,  who  only  a  few  days  before  had 
reached  the  capital  after  his  arduous  campaign  against 
the  present  pretender  and  his  predecessor  in  office.  Gen- 
eral Firmin.  We  were  loath  to  visit  the  executive  man- 
sion, or  Black  House,  as  it  is  rather  contemptuously 
called  by  the  white  dwellers  in  the  capital,  and  our  re- 
sistance only  yielded  to  the  statement  of  our  representa- 
tive from  Philadelphia  that  the  President  would  feel 
slighted  unless  we  came.  "  He  knows  how  well  our  peo- 
ple are  received  at  the  White  House  now,"  asserted  the 
Vice-Consul. 

"  Then  we  will  reciprocate,"  we  answered,  and  so  we 
started  out.  On  the  Champs  de  Mars  the  recruiting 
of  men  to  support  the  new  regime  was  going  on  actively, 
and  the  sight  was  certainly  interesting.  It  resembled 
a  scene  in  the  French  Revolution — all  the  actors,  how- 
ever, having  blackened  faces.  The  uniforms  seemed  to 
be  full  red  balloon  trousers,  a  dark-blue  coat,  and  a 
flamingo-hued  shako.     This  was  the  costume  to  which 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  53 

all  of  the  tatterdemalion  crew  aspired  but  only  the  re- 
cruiting sergeants  realised. 

After  a  few  minutes'  walking  we  came  to  the  open 
square,  in  which  rises  the  executive  palace,  and  here 
we  paused — In  fact,  there  was  nothing  else  to  do,  the 
Black  House  lot  being  surrounded  by  an  Iron  stockade 
that  It  would  take  a  daring  cat  to  climb.  Behind  this 
entanglement  lay  the  victorious  army,  seated  upon  their 
hams  and  resting  upon  their  laurels.  They  had  arrived 
only  twenty-four  hours  before  at  the  capital  and  were 
bent  upon  enjoying  the  fruits  of  victory.  Their  arms 
were  stacked — all  kinds  of  arms — but  near  at  hand,  and 
they  were  cooking  and  drinking  and  eating  by  their  lit- 
tle charcoal  fires.  Had  we  not  known  upon  such  high 
authority  that  these  men  were  the  upholders  of  the  con- 
stitution, we  might  have  imagined  ourselves  In  a 
brigands'  lair.  We  looked  about  us  and  saw  the  execu- 
tive mansion,  a  hideous  edifice,  with  one  side  blown  In, 
that  was  brought  from  Paris  some  years  ago,  our  Con- 
sul Informed  us.  In  boxes.  No  one  could  tell  us  why 
or  when  the  side  was  blown  In — whether  It  was  an  earth- 
quake or  a  revolution  that  struck  the  blow.  The  fact 
of  the  matter  Is — and  I  hope  this  will  explain  the  scrap- 
piness  of  my  information  on  some  points — there  Is  no 
continuity  of  tradition  in  Haytian  politics,  for  when 
one  President  gets  out  the  new  man  makes  a  clean  sweep 
of  those  who  have  been  unwise  enough  to  linger  In 
loyalty  around  the  steps  of  the  deserted  throne. 

We  wandered  around  the  Iron  stockade  until  we  came 
to  the  great  gates,  encrusted  with  burnished  gold,  that 
time  and  revolutions  have  tarnished.  But  the  gates  were 
closed  and  we  could  only  peep  In  at  the  Black  House, 
dusty  and  bare  of  trees,  but  filled  with  sullen,  ragged 


,  ( 


54  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

soldiers.  The  signs  were  certainly  not  propitious  to  our 
promised  interview,  but  we  continued  our  walk  until 
at  last  we  came  to  a  slit  in  the  iron  stockade — for  all 
the  great  gates  we  saw  had  been  bolted  and  barred  and 
double  padlocked.  Here,  indeed,  an  entrance  was 
physically  possible,  if  the  military  permitted.  Even  as 
we  watched,  an  officer  in  gorgeous  uniform  of  many 
colours  and  much  gold  braid  came  stalking  by  and 
passed  out,  having  whispered  the  password  to  the 
sentry.  But  as  we  drew  near  and  prepared  to  enter 
there  was  quite  a  movement  among  the  soldiers.  A  tall, 
burly  black  came  and  stood  in  the  slit  and  pressed  his 
musket  against  the  iron  bars  of  the  postern — and  this 
was  only  the  first  line  of  defence.  Behind  him,  in  close 
supporting  distance,  was  another  ragged  soldier  with 
bayonet  extended  to  greet  us,  and  behind  him,  gathered 
in  a  little  knot,  were  half  a  dozen  barefooted  bandits 
kneeling  and  crouching  on  the  ground  in  the  position  in 
which,  as  history  teaches  us,  infantry  always  prepares 
to  receive  a  cavalry  charge.  The  bayonets  were  the  old 
three-cornered  effective  kind  which  have  been  discarded 
by  all  modern  armies,  and  as  we  looked  upon  them  we 
weakened.  After  all,  what  right  did  we  have  to  force 
ourselves  upon  the  privacy  of  Simon  Sam  (or  was  it 
Alexis  Nord?)  Certainly  every  one  was  vague  on  the 
subject — only  a  few  violent  partisans  caring  to  commit 
themselves,  and  our  Consul  was  diplomatic;  at  times 
he  called  the  President  Sam,  at  others  Nord,  and  the 
indiscretion  was  always  uttered  in  a  low  voice. 

"  There  has  been  a  mistake — an  awful  mistake," 
sighed  our  Consul,  after  he  had  talked  for  a  minute  or 
two  in  negroid  French  with  the  guardian  of  the  gate. 
"  He  says  we  are  not  expected  and  cannot  pass.  The 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  55 

President  has  received  news  from  the  Cape  and  soon 
there  will  be  fighting  again."  We  were  not  for  insisting, 
and  in  fact  very  glad  to  get  away.  The  Haytian  army 
is  a  forbidding  sight.  There  wasn't  a  smile  in  the 
whole  regiment  as  it  lay  there  eating  and  drinking  and 
smoking.  However,  as  we  walked  away  our  Consul 
pointed  out  a  gorgeous-looking  individual  smoking 
away  at  the  second-story  window  of  the  executive  palace. 
"It's  Sam,"  he  whispered.  "Simon  Sam!  He  is 
eighty-seven  years  old  and  can  jump  into  the  saddle  with- 
out assistance.  He  has  twenty  children;  one  was  born 
only  last  week,  the  day  of  the  great  victory  at  Cape 
Haytien,  but  he  hasn't  got  his  household  in  working 
order  yet.  How  much  better  they  manage  these  things 
in  Washington,"  he  sighed. 

Strange  world !  How  uncertain  and  unstable  are 
even  the  seats  of  the  mighty!  In  September,  1908,  I 
saw  General  Sam  forcibly  pushed  out  of  Maloney's 
famous  saloon  in  St.  Thomas,  where  ex-Dictators  muse 
and  aspirant  Presidents  ply  their  followers  with  white 
rum. 

"  No  man  can  behave  as  you  do  in  my  saloon,  even 
if  he  does  have  a  gold-headed  cane,"  shouted  Maloney, 
and  this  emblem  of  high  office  followed  the  ex-Presi- 
dent out  into  the  sloppy  streets.  "  I  am  a  respectable 
barkeep,"  explained  Maloney  to  my  enquiries,  "  and  I 
can't  stand  Sam's  morals  and  manners,  even  if  he  did 
bring  the  goods  with  him  on  his  getaway."  * 

*  A  list  of  the  changing  governments  and  the  political  convulsions 
from  which  Hayti  has  suffered  in  the  last  hundred  years  will  be 
found  in  Appendix  B,  Note  II,  page  407. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Black  Republic  {continued) 

As  in  every  Haytian  town,  in  Port-au-Prince  the  royal 
palm,  or  palma  nobilis,  rises  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
great  public  square.  It  is  surrounded  by  ancient  cannon, 
relics  of  the  French  war,  or  of  the  British  attempts 
to  lay  hands  upon  the  islands,  which  continued  for  sev- 
eral years  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century.  Here 
Nord  Alexis  would  often  take  his  stand  and  talk  in  a 
rambling  way  to  his  people — rambling  seemed  his  dis- 
course, but  it  held  the  attention  and  charmed  the  facul- 
ties of  all  his  listeners  whose  skins  were  black.  In  this 
place  of  assembly,  under  the  blue  sky,  in  the  shadow 
of  that  palm  which  is  the  national  emblem,  the  Presi- 
dent often  got  into  what  he  doubtless  thought  (I  cer- 
tainly did)  was  close  touch  with  his  people.  Here  he 
would  talk  to  them  about  Dessaline,  that  arch-murderer 
of  the  independence  wars,  whose  slogan,  "  Liberty  or 
death,"  is  on  every  childish  tongue  in  Hayti,  while  the 
name  of  Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  the  Haytian  with  the 
godlike  character,  who  will  live  as  long  as  history,  is 
forgotten  there  altogether. 

Nord  Alexis  was  an  accessible  man.  The  doors  to  the 
palace  were  wide  open  every  day  in  the  week  to  those 
who  took  the  trouble  to  announce  their  coming  the  day 
before,  and  on  Thursday  of  every  week  you  or  any 
other  man  could  drop  in  quite  unannounced  and  you 
could  show  him  your  fighting  gamecock  or  your  jack- 

56 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  57 

knife — anything,  indeed,  that  you  might  flatter  yourself 
would  please  or  interest  the  old  man,  who  was  so  child- 
ish in  some  ways,  so  extremely  shrewd  in  others. 

Still  my  long-plotted  interview  seemed  destined  never 
to  take  place.  "Only  his  duty  to  his  country  and  his 
people,  says  the  President,"  reported  a  breathless  aide, 
*'  prevents  his  Excellency  from  receiving  the  callers  to 
whose  visit  he  had  looked  forward  with  much  anticipa- 
tion of  pleasure."  But  to-day  his  time  must  be  wholly 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  State;  the  next  day  and 
the  next  were  wholly  at  my  disposal.  Some  misled  bands 
of  ignorant  peasants  were,  under  the  guidance  of  a  man 
unworthy  of  the  proud  name  of  Haytian,  assembled  at 
Carrefour  or  Mirliton,  and  the  President  would  shortly 
proceed  to  chastise  them. 

I  made  no  attempt  to  join  this  foray;  the  probable 
clash  of  two  black  armies  left  me  quite  cold  or  probably 
cautious.  Here  was  a  mix-up  in  which  even  the  most 
unobtrusive  correspondent  could  not  fail  to  be  con- 
spicuous, and  I  passed  it  up,  as  the  battle  never  came 
off,  without  eternal  regrets.  As  we  walked  away  I 
caught  my  second  view  of  the  President,  who  has  now 
passed  out  of  Haytian  politics. 

He  was  then  tall  and  immensely  broad-shouldered, 
and  in  spite  of  his  almost  incredible  age,  on  the  eve  of 
ninety,  he  was  as  quick  and  active  on  his  feet  as  a 
jungle-cat.  Rainbow-clad  adjutants  were  thrusting 
under  his  nose,  where  he  sat  on  the  second-story  veranda, 
map  after  map  and  telegrams  and  notes  from  the  front, 
but  the  kindly  old  man  for  one  moment  turned  from  it 
all  and  transported  our  Consul  to  the  seventh  heaven 
of  delight  by  a  formal  bow  in  his  direction.  He  looked 
like  a  fighter  then,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  such 


58  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

he  was.  His  enemies  doubtless  were  well  advised  when 
they  waited  until  he  had  passed  the  age  of  the  Psalmist 
by  twenty-five  years  before  they  set  about  the  overthrow 
of  Nord  Alexis. 

When  I  made  my  second  visit  to  Port-au-Prince, 
the  day  and  the  hour  of  our  meeting  had  been  fixed, 
but  the  dark  horseman  came  between.  Mme.  Nord 
Alexis,  though  long  ailing,  died  unexpectedly,  and 
the  mind  of  the  survivor  of  this  wedlock,  which  had 
lasted  for  sixty-eight  years,  became  a  blank.  They  had 
lived  so  long  together  and  in  such  singular  harmony  that 
when  the  separation  came  the  aged  President  would  not 
believe  in  it.  On  the  day  after  his  wife's  funeral  he  had 
in  quick  succession  three  fainting  spells,  from  which  he 
recovered  physically,  but  his  mind  wandered  far  from 
the  capital,  back  to  Cape  Haytien  and  the  scene  of  his 
youth,  to  the  great  castle  in  the  clouds  above  the  vil- 
lage of  Millot,  near  the  north  coast,  where  the  great 
Christophe  lived  as  a  real  emperor  in  all  matters  of 
life  and  death  at  least,  and  Nord  Alexis  was  his  fa- 
vourite page. 

But  while  I  was  never  so  fortunate  as  to  enter 
the  inner  sanctum  of  the  Black  House  and  see  the  Presi- 
dent "  under  four  eyes,"  I  have  seen  the  pen  with  which 
he  signed  his  decrees  and  his  death  warrants,  and  the 
little  manikins  of  clay  which  he  so  often  consulted  when 
in  doubt  upon  a  course  of  action. 

A  man,  of  course  a  general,  is  in  prison  for  treason 
or  a  detournemerit  of  funds.  (This  is  the  delicate  way 
they  speak  of  stealing  in  Hayti  when  they  will  speak  of 
It  at  all.)  It  is  a  question  of  such  minor  importance, 
simply  whether  the  man  shall  live  or  die,  that  the  Presi- 
dent will  not  refer  it  to  the  papaloi  or  Voodoo  priest, 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  59 

who  lives  in  the  hills  behind  the  city,  so  he  drops  a 
manikin  of  clay  upon  the  floor.  If  it  breaks,  the  man 
dies;  if  it  remains  intact,  then  he  lives — as  long  as  the 
noisome  atmosphere  of  a  Haytian  prison  will  let  him. 

Again  in  doubt,  the  President  would  draw  a  line 
across  the  floor  of  his  sanctum  and  then  pitch  manikins, 
this  time  made  of  wood  and  attired  in  the  gaudy  glory 
of  Haytian  generals.  If  the  puppets  passed  the  line, 
it  meant  one  thing;  if  they  lagged  behind,  it  meant  an- 
other, and  so  the  State  papers  were  fashioned  and  the 
presidential  decrees  inspired  in  Hayti. 

But  of  course  upon  the  graver  questions  the  papaloi 
and  the  mamaloi,  the  high  priest  and  the  high  priestess 
of  the  Voodoo  sect,  sat  in  judgment.  The  papaloi, 
or  Guinea  coast  prophet,  with  his  fetich  worship  and 
his  Congo  prayers,  is  the  one  solid,  substantial  fact  in 
Hayti.  Around  about  him  turn  Haytian  life  and  poli- 
tics. In  some  administrations  the  doors  of  the  Black 
House  have  not  been  as  wide  open  to  these  prophets  of 
the  night  as  they  were  while  Nord  Alexis  ruled,  but 
never  have  they  been  closed  except  in  the  reign  of  the 
mulatto  Geffard  some  forty  years  ago,  and  his  was  a 
short  and  little  day  and  ended  with  exile  to  Jamaica, 
where,  under  the  guidance  of  intelligent  and  sympathetic 
white  men,  the  Afro-American  is  accomplishing  more, 
perhaps,  than  anywhere  else. 

Nord  Alexis  fought  off  until  late  in  life  the  degrad- 
ing superstitions  and  the  disgusting  rites  which  are  the 
Voodoo  prophet's  gospel  and  daily  practice.  While  for 
many  years  governor  of  various  northern  provinces  he 
was  almost,  if  not  entirely,  free  from  the  taint  of 
Voodoo.  It  was  only,  indeed,  when  he  became  Presi- 
dent,  when  the  cunning  papalois  promoted  his  wife, 


6o  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Mere  Alexis,  to  be  a  red-mitred  priestess  of  their  sect, 
that  the  old  man's  good  sense  was  undermined.  His 
great  age  and  the  coming  of  second  childhood  aiding, 
he  became  in  their  hands  a  puppet  as  pitiful  as  were  the 
manikins  of  clay  in  his  own. 

In  Hayti,  the  land  overflowing  with  generals, — the 
overflow  being  most  conveniently  observed  in  the  saloons 
and  dives  of  Kingston,  St.  Thomas,  and  Puerto  Plata, 
— the  form  of  government  is  that  of  a  republic  with 
popular  representative  institutions,  while  the  practice, 
the  invariable  practice  for  many  years,  is  that  of  a  mili- 
tary despotism  enforced  by  banditti,  who  all  their  lives, 
in  or  out  of  oflice,  live  by  brigandage. 

The  constitution  *  requires  that  the  President  should 
be  elected  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  the  Senate 
in  joint  session,  and  provides  that  his  term  should 
expire  on  May  15  in  the  seventh  year  after  his  election. 
The  practice,  however,  Is  just  the  reverse.  The  Presi- 
dent selects  the  senators  and  the  deputies,  and  they 
in  turn,  out  of  gratitude  for  the  salaries  received,  the 
junketings  enjoyed,  and  the  bribes  which  they  have 
pocketed,  reelect  their  patron,  or  hail  with  joy  the  suc- 
cessor he   nominates. 

When  a  military  chief  executes  a  state  stroke,  as  did 
Nord  Alexis  nearly  eight  years  ago,  he  presents  the 
legislators  with  the  alternative  of  a  banquet  and  a  con- 
tinuance of  good  times,  or  of  facing  a  shooting  party 
in  a  convenient  cemetery.  Invariably  he  finds  the  par- 
liamentarians amenable  to  this  line  of  reasoning. 

The  administrative  scheme  of  the  republic  has  been 
worked  out  in  a  way  which  easily  adjusts  itself  to  the 

*A  fuller  description  of  the  form  of  government  will  be  found  in 
Appendix  B,  Note  III,  page  410. 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  6i 

tyrannical  rule  of  the  general  of  the  day.  The  country 
is  divided  into  a  number  of  arrondissements  or  districts. 
Each  of  these  districts  is  presided  over  by  a  military 
chief  who  is  the  personal  appointee  of  the  President, 
neither  the  advice  nor  consent  of  the  Senate  or  any 
other  body  of  men  being  asked.  This  general  is  the 
chief  justice,  the  supreme  chief  of  his  district,  and  a  law 
unto  himself  as  long  as  he  remains  on  good  terms  with 
the  President,  and  continues  to  forward  to  him  the  de- 
sired tribute.  Under  this  general  is  placed  a  com- 
mandant de  place,  who  has  the  immediate  and  routine 
supervision  of  the  soldiery.  The  arrondissement  is  fur- 
ther divided  into  a  number  of  districts,  which  are  sub- 
divided into  sections.  Each  of  these  districts  and  each 
of  these  sections  is  commanded  by  a  superman,  who  is 
the  admiration  of  all  the  other  soldiers,  because  he 
wears  red  trousers  and  a  blue  coat,  often  adorned  with 
brass  buttons,  and  because  sometimes  his  woolly  head 
is  crowned  with  a  kepi  covered  with  gold  lace.  Of 
course  a  man  so  attired  Is  hailed  as  a  general  wherever 
he  goes,  and,  equally  of  course,  he  exacts  a  general's 
perquisites. 

At  times,  according  to  the  political  pressure  that  Is 
applied,  the  republic  is  divided  into  three  parts.  One 
is  presided  over  by  the  delegate  of  the  north,  the  sec- 
ond by  the  delegate  of  the  central  plain,  and  the  third 
by  the  delegate  of  the  south.  As  often  as  not  one  of 
these  offices  remains  vacant.  It  Is  held  In  reserve  as  a 
plum  only  to  be  secured  by  particularly  meritorious 
service  to  the  President  in  power.  The  duties  of  the 
delegates  are  to  keep  a  closer  supervision  over  the  vari- 
ous district  generals  than  can  the  President  himself 
from  the  distant  capital,  and,  of  course,  the  delegates 


62  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

impose  a  regular  percentage  tariff  upon  the  collections 
and  the  stealings  of  the  minor  generals.  No  provision 
having  been  made  for  their  payment  out  of  the  national 
treasury,  they  are  obliged  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

Unlike  the  delegates,  who  have  no  treasury  status, 
the  generaux  d' arrondissement  are  paid  every  week 
directly  from  the  custom-house,  at  the  rate  of  250 
gourdes  a  month. 

The  gourde  is  a  dirty  paper  promise  to  pay  of  the 
Haytian  treasury,  and  it  is  held  in  such  low  esteem  in 
the  country  that  the  enormous  number  in  circulation 
is  never  included  in  any  statement  of  the  national  in- 
debtedness. The  nominal  value  of  the  gourde  is  a  dol- 
lar. You  can  exchange  it  for  real  dollars  in  Hayti,  but 
nowhere  else,  at  the  rate  of  eight  or  nine  to  one;  in  a 
word,  the  fluctuating  value  of  the  gourde  is  between 
eleven  and  twelve  cents. 

Out  of  his  salary,  which  may  be  justly  reckoned  at 
about  $30  a  month,  the  general  d' arrondissement  is 
expected  to  meet  all  the  expenses  of  governing  his 
province,  pay,  clothe,  and  feed  his  army  as  well  as  live 
in  the  state  becoming  his  high  official  position. 

In  actual  practice,  however,  he  does  nothing  of  the 
kind.  By  a  system  of  graft  and  robbery  which  I  have 
never  seen  paralleled,  even  in  the  Far  East,  the  ex- 
penses of  the  administration  are  converted  into  huge 
profits  for  the  governor  and  comfortable  incomes  for 
his  trusted  and  confidential  associates. 

The  fate  of  the  soldier  in  this  military  oligarchy, 
though  by  force  of  circumstances  he  often  develops 
into  an  arrant  rascal,  is  much  to  be  pitied.  Often  a 
general  with  the  magnificent  salary  of  $30  a  month  has 
a  thousand  men  on  the  rolls  of  his  military  force.     As 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  63 

the  President  does  not  bother  himself  about  the  details 
of  provincial  government  until  a  revolution  breaks  out, 
the  governor  or  general  of  the  arrondissement  usually 
allows  a  large  proportion  of  his  men  to  secure  work 
where  they  can,  upon  their  promise  to  return  to  duty 
when  wanted.  Even  the  soldiers  who  are  kept  with- the 
colours  are  allowed  to  follow  gainful  pursuits,  and  so 
keep  body  and  soul  together.  In  a  small  way  they,  too, 
rob  and  steal,  but  the  corruptionists  higher  up  are  so 
numerous,  the  spoil,  relatively  speaking,  so  small,  that 
their  pickings  are  slender  indeed. 

I  made  the  cruise  along  the  coast  on  a  vessel  that 
called  at  all  the  coffee  ports  and  loaded  the  aromatic 
bean  exclusively.  From  the  warehouses  to  the  lighters 
the  coffee-sacks  were  carried  by  soldiers,  through  an 
arrangement  that  was  at  least  profitable  to  the  local 
generals.  All  the  soldiers  received  was  a  staggering 
drink  of  common  country  rum  for  each  bag  carried. 
Musicians  are  generally  paid  by  the  exporter  to  make 
the  porters  step  lively  and  get  as  much  out  of  their 
ill-requited  labour  as  possible.  The  musicians  have  the 
most  primitive  of  instruments.  They  hold  in  each  hand  a 
stone  which  they  clash  together  with  a  certain  rhythm 
as  if  they  were  cymbals.  It  has  a  wonderful  effect, 
however,  upon  the  porters,  who,  staggering  along  in  the 
burning  sun  under  the  combined  weight  of  the  rum  and 
the  coffee-sacks,  never  fail  to  burst  into  a  song,  which 
is  sometimes  patois  and  sometimes  pure  Congo,  when 
the  music  of  the  clashing,  crashing  stones  falls  upon 
their  ear. 

When  a  revolution  breaks  out  and  the  unhappy 
general  d' arrondissement  is  ordered  to  march  to  the 
scene  of  the  trouble  with  the  1,000  men  whose  names 


64  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

he  carries  on  the  skeleton  cadres  of  his  military  com- 
panies his  troubles  begin.  Many  observers  of  the  course 
of  events  in  luckless  Hayti,  both  native  and  foreign 
born,  have  told  me  that  more  blood  is  shed  as  a  rule 
in  rushing  the  luckless  peasants  to  their  long-forgotten 
standards  than  in  the  actual  conflicts  which  ensue,  and  I 
myself  have  seen  dozens  of  recruits  brought  into  the 
recruiting  stations  bound  so  tightly  with  ropes  and 
thongs  that,  when  liberated  in  the  barrack  yards,  they 
could  neither  walk  nor  lift  an  arm  to  receive  the  battered 
muskets  thrust  upon  them. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  country  people  submit  to 
such  treatment,  which  exceeds  in  barbarity  even  that 
which  was  meted  out  to  their  ancestors  by  the  French 
planters  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  answer  is  not  a 
difficult  one.  The  long-suffering  peasants  choose  to  ac- 
cept the  lesser  evil.  Every  military  chief  is  surrounded 
by  a  score  of  human  bloodhounds,  from  whose  pursuit 
there  is  no  escape,  not  even  in  the  jungles  and  mountain 
fastnesses  of  Hayti,  and  horrible  to  contemplate  as  is  the 
life  of  a  common  soldier  in  Hayti,  it  is  thought  by  this 
light-hearted  tropical  people  to  be  preferable  to  being 
beaten  to  death  or  to  being  left  to  starve  in  the  stocks. 

That  this  fear  is  a  real  one  I  can  testify  from  per- 
sonal experience,  though  this  has  been  by  no  means  ex- 
tensive in  Hayti. 

When  on  the  point  of  embarking  at  Port-au-Prince 
for  Aux  Cayes  on  the  17th  of  October,  1908,  the  long 
dock  of  the  custom-house  on  which  we  waited  sud- 
denly resounded  with  the  most  piercing  cries  of  human 
agony  it  has  ever  been  my  fortune  to  listen  to.  The 
dock  is  large  and  was  encumbered  with  mountains  of 
freight  and  hundreds  of  indifferent  spectators  or  pas- 


h 
I 

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03 


C      < 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  65 

sengers,  engrossed  with  their  own  customs  troubles  and 
the  by  no  means  inconsiderable  difficulties  of  securing 
the  transportation  they  desired,  whether  by  land  or  sea. 
It  was  long  before  I  tracked  down  the  cries  to  a  little 
structure  of  wood  on  the  dock,  and  by  this  time  the 
heartrending  screams  had  subsided  into  low,  mechanical 
sobs.  Around  the  house  were  stationed  a  score  or  more 
of  soldiers,  who  seemed  much  excited  and  would  pay  no 
attention  to  my  enquiries.  At  last  the  sergeant  in 
charge  said  politely,  but  with  the  evident  intention  of 
satisfying  my  obtrusive  curiosity  and  sending  me  about 
my  business : 

"  A  low  fellow  is  being  whipped  in  there.  //  man- 
quait  d'egards  a  Vamiral — he  was  rude  to  the  admiral 
and  had  to  be  punished." 

Several  passing  Haytians  smiled  cynically,  but  hur- 
ried on.  As  I  was  leaving,  two  Jamaican  negroes  spoke 
to  me  and  one  said,  with  the  boldness  of  British  sub- 
jects, white  or  black: 

"  That  ain't  no  ordinary  whipping  goin'  on  in  there, 
boss.  They  have  been  breaking  a  man's  legs  in  there 
between  a  pair  of  muskets,  that's  what  they  have  been 
doing." 

And  despite  the  scowls  of  the  sergeant  the  bold  fellow 
explained  to  me  the  mechanism  of  this  horrible  torture* 

"  I  guess  he  was  a  deserter  from  their  cutthroat 
army  or  perhaps  somebody  said  he  was  carrying  letters 
for  Dr.  Firmin.  But  they  have  broke  his  legs  sure. 
You  can't  mistake  that  holler.  It's  different  from  when 
they  is  being  whipped." 

A  deathlike  silence  reigned  in  the  little  hovel  now. 
We  moved  on  and  halted  behind  some  coffee-sacks.  In 
a  few  minutes  the  door  was  opened  and  an  insensible 


66  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

man  was  carried  out  on  a  stretcher,  and  down  through 
the  custom-house  into  the  city,  followed  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  guard  of  soldiers.  His  head  was  covered 
with  his  torn  shirt.  I  could  see  on  his  bare  back  no 
signs  of  a  whipping,  and  I  believe  that  the  story  of  the 
Jamaican  as  to  the  way  in  which  his  legs  had  been 
crushed  between  two  muskets  was  true.  Several  Hay- 
tians  accosted  admittsed  that  this  was  probably  so,  and 
then  immediately  hastened  away,  as  if  fearful  of  meet- 
ing a  similar  or  a  worse  fate. 

Of  course,  if  Hayti  were  a  true  republic  the  people 
would  have  an  opportunity  to  correct  the  abuses  from 
which  they  suffer  by  exercising  the  manhood  franchise 
to  which,  under  the  constitution,  they  are  entitled,  but, 
of  all  the  farces  and  travesties  of  popular  institutions 
which  are  so  prevalent  in  the  Black  Republic,  that  of  the 
so-called  popular  elections  is  the  most  flagrant.  Elections 
to  the  Chamber  are  held  or  not  held,  not  as  prescribed 
by  law  and  at  the  proper  intervals,  but  simply  when  and 
how  it  may  suit  the  personal  convenience  and  private 
profit  of  the  supreme  military  chief  of  the  day.  If  he 
can  secure  more  money  in  bribes  from  the  deputies  al- 
ready assembled  and  in  session  than  is  offered  by  those 
desirous  of  legislative  honours  and  opportunities  for  cor- 
ruption, then  the  old  Chamber  remains  on  indefinitely. 
If  the  new  men  offer  to  the  military  chief  a  sufficiently 
substantial  inducement,  the  legislature  in  being  is  dis- 
missed, although  it  may  have  enjoyed  only  a  month  of 
life,  and  new  elections  offered. 

The  manner  of  holding  the  elections  is  simplicity  it- 
self. The  candidates,  in  person  or  through  their  agents, 
call  upon  the  mihtary  President,  to  whom  they  make 
known  their  aspirations  and  their  claims.     He  refers 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  67 

them,  one  and  all,  to  his  business  man,  who  generally 
is  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  Here  money  talks  ex- 
clusively, and  not  by  any  means  the  filthy  paper  cur- 
rency of  the  country,  whose  want  of  any  real  value  is 
well  appreciated  at  the  treasury,  but  the  ringing  gold  of 
the  hated  foreigners. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  makes  out  a  list  of  the 
bids  which  he  has  received  and  submits  them  to  the 
President.  The  latter  looks  it  over  and  then  sends  his 
orders  to  the  district  generals,  his  appointees,  and  sub- 
ordinates. In  Jeremie  Mr.  So-and-so  must  be  elected, 
and  at  Cape  Francis  Mr.  This-or-that,  and  in  a  few 
days  he  learns  that  the  governmental  candidates  have 
been  returned  by  overwhelming  majorities,  and  in  the 
midst  of  great  popular  enthusiasm. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  as  often  as  not  out  of  pure  lazi- 
ness the  local  general  does  not  hold  any  election  at  all, 
but  simply  declares  the  government  candidates  success- 
ful. When  the  prescribed  forms  are  observed,  however, 
the  soldiers  deposit  in  a  bunch  the  required  number  of 
ballots  in  the  box  and  then  the  polls  are  closed.  I  am 
certain  no  election  has  been  held  in  Hayti  for  the  last 
thirty  years  where  these  forms  have  not  been  observed. 
This  is  at  least  one  question  of  the  many  which  perplex 
the  country  upon  which  the  most  perfect  agreement  pre- 
vails among  all  observers.  The  electoral  machinery, 
instead  of  being  a  check  upon  the  military  autocrat,  has 
been  turned  into  one  of  his  favourite  and  most  efficient 
instruments  of  profit  and  corruption. 

That  the  great  military  machine  by  means  of  which 
unhappy  Hayti  is  misruled  is  kept  well  oiled  cannot  be 
made  clear  without  a  brief  examination  of  the  tax  sys- 
tem of  the  country  and  some  of  the  many  abuses  which 


68  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

flourish  under  it.  Legally  speaking,  taxes  are  limited  to 
the  import  and  export  duties.  A  Haytian,  according  to 
law,  may  own  twenty  houses  and  a  dozen  plantations, 
and  yet  not  be  liable  to  a  cent  of  taxes. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  whatever  his  occupa- 
tion may  be,  in  one  form  or  another  he  must  pay  to  the 
various  officials  by  whom  he  is  watched  and  harassed  a 
percentage  of  his  income  which,  when  times  are  hard 
and  the  treasury  in  pressing  need  of  money, — a  chronic 
condition  in  Hayti, — often  wipes  out  his  profits  alto- 
gether. Bad  as  this  is,  the  people  concerned  generally 
submit  with  as  much  cheerfulness  as  they  can  assume, 
because  the  only  alternative  is  the  utter  destruction  or 
confiscation  of  their  property,  and  not  infrequently  the 
loss  of  life. 

Foreigners  must  pay  taxes  on  the  houses  and  business 
places  they  rent,  and  even  clerks  have  to  pay  a  large  per- 
centage of  their  salaries  upon  pain  of  expulsion.  Then 
there  are  harbour  and  lighthouse  dues,  exceedingly 
heavy  and  useless,  as  the  money  is  never  applied  to  its 
nominal  purposes,  which  fall  almost  exclusively  upon 
foreign  commerce  and  affect  the  prosperity  of  the  for- 
eign colonists. 

It  is  in  the  evasion  of  the  import  and  the  export 
duties  that  the  grossest  abuses  prevail  and  the  injustices 
are  committed  against  which  the  foreign  firms  in  the 
country  have  long  complained  in  vain.  The  chief  of- 
fender on  this  score  was,  until  her  remarkable  career 
came  to  an  end,  Mme.  Nord  Alexis,  the  versatile, 
many-sided  wife  of  the  aged  President.  While  it  is 
undoubtedly  true  that  Madame  la  Presidente  was  a 
red-mitred  priestess  of  the  Congo  fetich  worship- 
pers and  a  devout  believer  in,  and  practitioner  of,  all 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  69 

the  Voodoo  superstitions,  she  nevertheless  had  a  good 
business  head  on  her  shoulders,  which  at  times  brought 
half  a  dozen  of  the  most  Influential  German  business 
firms  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 

In  her  commercial  ventures  Madame  la  Presldente 
ignored  the  export  and  the  import  tariff  walls  com- 
pletely, and  no  one  in  the  customs  service  was  bold 
enough  to  remind  so  exalted  a  personage  of  their  exist- 
ence. By  this  simple  method  she  would  bring  in  a  cargo 
of  shirtings  from  New  York  and  undersell  the  stores 
20  per  cent.,  while  retaining  a  handsome  profit  for  her- 
self. 

But  coffee — the  rich  and  aromatic  coffee  of  the  Hay- 
tlan  highlands,  for  which  the  connoisseurs  of  Paris  and 
Vienna  and  Amsterdam  will  pay  any  price — was  Mme. 
Nord  Alexis'  best  crop,  out  of  which  she  secured  a  mint 
of  pin-money,  though  what  she  did  with  it  no  one  could 
say,  for  to  the  end  of  her  days  her  attire  was  primitive 
and  simple.  Her  bandannas  were  like  those  of  the  mar- 
ket-women and  her  gowns  were  of  calico,  like  those  of 
the  peasant  girls,  only  more  slatternly.  The  only  for- 
eign luxuries  she  Is  known  to  have  indulged  in  are 
carpet-slippers  and  simple  clay  pipes.  By  many  it  Is 
thought  that  the  good  woman  spent  all  her  commercial 
profits  in  the  purchase  of  the  tons  upon  tons  of  ammuni- 
tion which,  rumour  had  it,  were  stored  away  in  the 
huge  cellars  by  which  old  Nord  had  the  national  palace 
in  Port-au-Prince  undermined  against  the  day  of  the 
revolution.* 

Madame  la   Presldente's   coffee   ventures   were   as 

♦Possibly  the  recent  explosion  which  killed  President  Leconte 
and  destroyed  the  palace  may  have  originated  in  one  of  Mme. 
Nord's  forgotten  magazines. 


70  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

simple  as  her  flyers  In  shirtings  and  immensely  more 
profitable.  The  export  duty  on  high-grade  coffee  is  ex- 
tremely heavy,  a  dollar  gold  per  hundred  pounds, 
I  believe,  while  there  is  no  duty  on  cotton 
seed.  Her  method  was  this:  She  would  buy 
up  all  the  coffee  in  sight  in  certain  districts, 
through  agents,  pass  it  boldly  through  the  complaisant 
customs  as  cotton  seed,  and  ship  it  to  Havre.  The 
swindle  was  once  revealed  by  the  statement  of  the 
French  custom-house,  which  showed  during  the  last  crop 
that  a  vessel  left  Aux  Cayes  and,  proceeding  direct  to 
the  French  port,  arrived  there  with  40,000  more  sacks 
of  coffee  than  the  bill  of  lading  showed,  while  in  some 
mysterious  way  the  cotton  seed  it  was  invoiced  to  carry 
had  disappeared!  This  flagrant  case  and  the  ease  with 
which  the  corrupt  practice  could  be  proved  spurred  the 
foreign  coffee  merchants  who  were  facing  severe  losses 
as  the  result  of  unfair  competition  to  petition  the  Presi- 
dent in  regard  to  the  custom-house  abuses  by  which  the 
country  was  such  a  loser.  The  President  paid  no  at- 
tention to  their  appeal  unless  the  revival  of  some  vex- 
atious anti-foreign  tax  laws,  which  had  been  allowed 
to  lapse,  was  his  acknowledgment  of  its  receipt. 

This  corruption  in  the  executive  mansion  and  the 
highest  places  of  the  military  hierarchy  has  permeated 
every  rank  of  the  ruling  banditti  class.  The  policeman 
and  the  recruit  steal  in  proportion  to  their  opportunities 
just  as  do  the  President,  the  finance  minister,  and  the 
chief  of  customs.  It  has  been  computed,  and,  I  believe, 
with  approximate  accuracy,  that  there  are  2,200  generals 
drawing  small  salaries  and  licensed  to  steal  by  the  pres- 
ent administration  in  Hayti.  Should  any  of  the  revo- 
lutions which  are  in  progress  to-day  be  successful,  they 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  71 

would  all  lose  their  jobs  and  be  succeeded  by  as  many 
other  hungry  human  vultures.  The  men  who  are  turned 
out  remain  generals  without  pay,  but  their  license  to 
steal  is  not  withdrawn. 

As  a  rule,  they  are  too  proud  to  beg,  too  lazy  to 
work,  and  too  dangerous  to  the  administration  to  be  dis- 
turbed. The  new  President  would,  as  a  general  thing, 
prefer  to  have  the  officials  of  the  previous  adminis- 
tration levying  taxes  upon  their  industrious  neighbours 
than  engaged  in  stirring  up  civil  strife.  So  outside  of 
the  official  tax-gatherers,  blackmailers,  and  extortionists, 
there  is  a  still  larger  band  of  banditti  who  have  had 
all  the  experience  in  corrupt  practices  which  comes 
with  holding  office  in  Hayti,  and  who  remain,  after 
their  office-holding  days  are  over,  an  association 
and  syndicate  of  thieves  and  robbers,  which  is  never 
seriously  molested  as  long  as  they  have  the  modesty 
and  the  good  sense  not  to  poach  upon  the  more  profit- 
able fields  of  plunder,  which  the  new  administration 
naturally  reserves  for  its  own  peculiar  and  especial 
profit. 

I  have  estimated — and,  I  believe,  conservatively — 
that  each  of  these  official  brigands  has  associated  with 
him,  bound  by  the  closest  ties  of  crime  in  common,  a 
score  of  henchmen,  all  of  whom,  together  with  their 
families,  have  to  be  provided  for. 

Under  this  tremendous  burden  it  is  natural  that  the 
agriculture  and  the  industry  of  the  country,  never  pushed 
to  an  intensive  stage,  have  broken  down.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few,  where  especial  circumstances  prevail, 
the  plantations  are  deserted  and  overgrown  with  luxuri- 
ant weeds.  The  poor  peasant,  for  fear  of  the  soldier 
tax-collector,  does  not  plant  his  garden  near  his  wretched 


72  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hut,  but  secretes  It  somewhere  in  the  adjacent  forest. 
All  signs  of  wealth  and  prosperity  are  concealed  in 
fear  of  confiscation,  and  no  one  plans  to  secure  more 
than  a  bare  subsistence,  knowing  full  well  that,  how- 
ever intelligent  and  successful  his  enterprises,  in  the  end 
that  is  all  he  will  be  allowed  to  enjoy  for  himself,  if  that. 
The  whole  peasant  and  working  population  of  the  island 
for  years  have  practised — in  self-defence,  I  think,  more 
than  from  natural  inclination,  as  some  charge — this  pre- 
carious scheme  of  existence,  until  the  drought  and  the 
consequent  almost  complete  failure  of  the  small  fruits, 
as  well  as  the  great  crops,  have  reduced  them  to  starva- 
tion and  a  state  of  misery  and  want  which  I  could  not 
have  believed  had  I  not  seen  it  in  all  its  heartrending, 
as  well  as  repulsive,  features. 

Experts  in  tropical  agriculture  and  the  usufruct  of 
the  torrid  zone  reckon  that  Hayti  is  potentially  the  rich- 
est island  in  the  world  with  the  possible  exception  of 
Java,  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies.  Under  Dutch  rule 
Java  supports  30,000,000  of  healthy,  well-nourished 
people,  and  enriches  all  the  world  with  the  value  of  her 
products.  In  Hayti  there  are  not  more  than  a  million 
and  a  half  of  people,  several  hundred  thousand  of  whom 
are  in  a  chronic  state  of  starvation,  and  her  exports  are 
practically  nil,  with  the  exception  of  a  little  hardwood 
and  a  few  thousand  sacks  of  coffee,  both  of  which  it 
has  been  said,  with  but  slight  exaggeration,  grow  wild.* 

On  May  15,  1909,  the  presidential  term  of  the  chief 
magistrate.  General  Nord  Alexis,  should  have  expired, 
and  the  revolutions  and  the  uprisings  which  occurred 
during  the  last  weeks  of  1908,  especially,  one  In  Aux 

•Some  account  of  the  resources  of  the  island  is  given  in  Appen- 
dix B,  Note  IV,  page  411. 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  73 

Cayes,  headed  by  General  Simon,  and  another  in 
Jeremie,  headed  by  General  Fanchard,  were,  after  all, 
but  the  barbarous  and  bloodthirsty  form  in  which 
the  candidates  shy  their  casters  into  the  presidential 
ring. 

When  events  follow  their  normal  course,  fighting 
continues  throughout  the  island  until  one  or  the  other 
of  the  candidates  gains  decisively  the  upper  hand.  He 
then  proceeds  to  the  capital  and  begins  paying  off  his 
"  election  expenses  "  out  of  the  national  treasury. 

These  revolutionary  elections  are  carried  out  with 
such  an  utter  disregard  of  law  that  even  after  the 
strongest  man,  who  is  generally  the  most  unscrupulous 
brute,  is  firmly  seated  in  the  saddle,  the  country  cannot 
settle  down  upon  a  peaceful  footing.  There  are  too 
many  outrageous  wrongs  to  be  righted,  by  fair  means 
or  foul;  too  many  personal  vengeances  to  be  secured, 
with  the  result  that  rarely  does  the  reign  of  terror 
cease,  either  before  or  during  or  after  the  revolution- 
ary elections. 

These  revolutions  or  civil  wars  are,  of  course,  char- 
acterised by  the  most  utter  disregard  of  the  i-ules  of 
civilised  warfare,  both  on  the  part  of  the  government 
and  the  various  stripes  of  insurgents  who  from  time  to 
time  take  the  field,  lured  on  to  it  by  the  hope  of  promised 
office,  or  driven  to  it  by  the  hirelings  and  professional 
soldiers  of  some  military  chief. 

In  the  winter  of  1907-8,  when  twenty-two  of  the  ad- 
herents of  Dr.  Firmin  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  adminis- 
tration general  at  St.  Marc,  that  officer  walked  them 
out  to  the  nearest  cemetery  and,  after  they  had  dug  a 
trench  deep  enough  to  hold  their  bodies,  had  them  shot 
and  buried.     He  then  reported  to  his  commander-in- 


74  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

chief,  President  Nord  Alexis,  the  occurrence  textually  as 
follows : 

"  Feeling  confident  that  my  proces  verbal  of  the  af- 
fair, which  I  shall  have  drawn  up  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment,  would  meet  with  your  excellency's  approval,  to 
save  time,  I  have  executed  the  twenty-two  prisoners — 
provisionally."  This  butcher  never  received  a  word  of 
censure,  but,  on  the  contrary,  was  promoted  by  his 
chief. 

It  makes  but  poor  and  sordid  reading,  a  sketch  of 
Haytian  politics  in  the  last  few  years,  but  as  some  in- 
sight into  it  Is  absolutely  necessary  for  an  understanding 
of  a  situation  in  which  our  Interests  and  our  navy  are  al- 
ways involved,  I  will  tell  the  story  as  briefly  as  possible 
of  how  General  Sam  retired  and  how  General  Nord 
Alexis  induced  the  deputies  and  senators  to  elect  him  to 
the  presidency. 

According  to  law,  the  presidential  service  of  General 
TIresias  Simon  Sam  came  to  an  end  upon  May  15,  1902. 
General  Sam,  who  had  been  one  of  the  most  disreputable 
presidents  that  even  the  amazing  political  conditions  In 
the  Black  Republic  have  produced,  was,  toward  the  end 
of  his  term,  less  concerned  with  the  choice  of  his  suc- 
cessor than  with  how  to  get  safely  away  from  the 
island  with  the  proceeds  of  a  fraudulent  emission  of 
$5,000,000  worth  of  5  per  cent,  gold  bonds.  These 
bonds  he  had  marketed  with  the  connivance  of  a  syn- 
dicate of  foreigners  composed  of  Frenchmen  and  Ger- 
mans. There  were,  I  am  glad  to  say,  no  Americans 
concerned  In  this  transaction. 

Saddling  his  country  with  a  debt  of  $5,000,000  and 
banking  the  cash  proceeds  of  the  sale,  which  probably 
did  not  amount  to  more  than  $300,000,  General  Sam 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  75 

slipped  away  from  his  capital  on  the  midnight  of  May 
13,  or  only  two  days  before  the  expiration  of  his  term, 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  St.  Thomas  under  the 
protection  of  the  Danish  flag. 

On  the  following  day  the  inhabitants  of  the  Black 
Republic  awakened  to  find  themselves  without  a  gov- 
ernment and  with  an  empty  treasury.  In  this  emergency 
the  Black  Republicans  behaved  with  much  judgment 
and  gave  a  striking  illustration  of  what  might  be  ex- 
pected of  them  if,  once  and  for  all,  the  robber  generals 
and  the  military  bandits  who  prey  upon  the  island  could 
be  expelled  or  kept  within  control  by  a  strong  power. 

There  was  living  at  the  time  in  Port-au-Prince  an  ex- 
president  of  the  republic,  M.  Boisrond-Canal,  who  is 
perhaps  the  only  chief  magistrate  of  Hayti  for  the  last 
fifty  years  who  did  not  meet  with  a  violent  end  or  die 
in  exile.  During  his  term  of  office  he  had  been  a  fairly 
good  President,  and  had  distinguished  himself  by  his 
antagonism  to  the  popular  practices  of  Voodoo,  in 
which  may  be  embraced  the  cult  of  the  anti-white  re- 
ligion, the  superstitious  Congo  rites  for  medical  and  re- 
ligious purposes,  together  with,  in  moments  of  great  ex- 
citement and  religious  frenzy,  an  occasional  relapse  into 
cannibalism. 

In  the  clean  hands  of  Boisrond-Canal  the  best  people 
of  the  island  placed  the  provisional  government,  and 
he  showed  that  he  was  worthy  of  the  trust  by  immedi- 
ately ordering  the  election  of  deputies  to  the  legislative 
chamber,  upon  whom,  together  with  the  senators,  the 
duty  would  devolve  of  electing  a  successor  to  the  ab- 
sconding Tiresias  Simon  Sam.  In  view  of  the  unusual 
conditions  and  the  position  of  trust  in  which  he  had  been 
placed,  one  might  say  with  truth  by  popular  acclaim, 


76  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

M.  Boisrond-Canal  declined  to  allow  his  name  to  be 
presented  to  the  voters  as  a  candidate  for  the  presi- 
dency. 

In  the  electoral  campaign  which  ensued,  and  which, 
by  a  most  natural  course  of  events  in  Hayti,  soon  degen- 
erated into  civil  war,  characterised  by  most  inhuman 
atrocities  on  all  sides,  there  were  three  leading  candi- 
dates. No  one  of  them  was  closely  allied  to  that  mili- 
tary hierarchy  which  has,  after  lOO  years  of  uninter- 
rupted rule,  brought  a  marvellously  fertile  island  to 
the  brink  of  ruin  and  over  a  million  people,  born  in  the 
midst  of  plenty,  to  the  point  of  starvation. 

The  candidates  who  represented  the  popular  disgust 
with  the  military  regime  and  the  resulting  lawlessness 
were  Seneque  M.  Pierre,  who  had  been  on  several  occa- 
sions Secretary  of  War;  M.  Fouchard,  who  had  been 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  where  he  had  shown  some 
opposition  to  the  political  pilferers,  and  Dr.  A.  Firmin, 
who  in  previous  cabinets  had  been  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  and  for  some  time  Haytian  Minister  to  France. 

Of  these  candidates  Dr.  Firmin  was  by  far  the  most 
enlightened  and  the  most  acceptable  to  the  reputable 
foreign  interests  in  Hayti.  Subsequent  events,  however, 
have  shown  him  to  be  lacking  in  many  of  the  qualities 
which  are  absolutely  necessary  for  the  retention  of 
power  in  a  country  like  Hayti.  It  is  conceded  by  many 
of  his  former  friends  that  even  were  Dr.  Firmin  car- 
ried into  the  presidential  chair  by  a  popular  vote  so 
overwhelming  that  it  could  not  be  denied,  he  would  not 
be  able  to  maintain  him.self  for  more  than  a  week  or 
two  in  that  most  difficult  position.  The  doctor  has 
written  several  learned  treatises  upon  anthropology;  he 
is  an  expert  upon  the  subject  of  skulls;  he  can  tell  the 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  77 

cranium  of  a  Carib  from  that  of  a  Caucasian  or  a  man 
from  the  Congo  at  a  great  distance,  but  his  political  ex- 
ploits and  experiences  of  recent  years  show  him  to  be  a 
poor  judge  of  the  living  man,  in  Hayti  as  everywhere 
else  the  indispensable  pawn  of  the  political  game. 

The  moment  the  election  decrees  were  issued.  Dr. 
Firmin  proceeded  to  Cape  Haytien,  a  flourishing  com- 
mercial port  on  the  north  coast  of  the  island,  and  issued 
a  manifesto  announcing  his  intention  to  run  for  deputy. 
Firmin  wished  to  represent  this  constituency  in  the  cham- 
ber, which,  according  to  the  Haytian  constitution,  is 
also  the  electoral  college,  because  Cape  Haytien  is  the 
most  influential  district  in  the  island  and,  doubtless,  be- 
cause he  had  noticed  that  many  presidential  candidates 
had  suffered  defeat  because  they  were  not  personally 
present  in  the  more  or  less  secret  conclaves  of  the 
Chamber  when  convened  to  select  a  president. 

By  June,  1902,  the  election  excitement  throughout 
Hayti,  and  particularly  in  the  north,  had  reached  fever 
heat.  Brawls  were  of  frequent  occurrence  in  the  streets 
of  Cape  Haytien  between  the  friends  and  the  foes  of 
Dr.  Firmin.  At  this  juncture  and  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  maintaining  law  and  order  and  insuring  an  hon- 
est election,  the  provisional  government  removed  the 
military  governor  or  general  of  the  Capt  Haytien  ar- 
rondissement,  who  had  certainly  during  the  disturb- 
ance given  ample  proof  of  his  incompetency,  and  sent 
north  General  Nord  Alexis  to  assume  his  difl^cult  task. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  plans  of  the  members  of 
the  provisional  government,  they  certainly  cannot  be 
held  responsible  for  what  happened.  Alexis  was  at  the 
time  85  years  of  age,  perhaps  even  90, and  no  one  could 
have  suspected  that  the  presidential  bee  was  buzzing  in 


78  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

his  woolly  bonnet.  He  had  been  Minister  of  War  and 
had  governed  several  districts  of  the  country  from  time 
to  time,  and  in  the  light  of  Haytian  conditions  his  rule 
was  regarded  as  not  wholly  unrighteous.  He  accepted 
presents  when  offered  by  clients  who  were  doing  business 
with  the  government,  and  he  has  never  been  able  to 
clear  himself  of  the  accusation  that  he  shared  in  General 
Sam's  fraudulent  emission  of  bonds  to  the  extent  of 
$25,000.  However,  as  Haytian  generals  go,  Nord 
Alexis  was  not  and  never  has  been  a  grafter,  and  even 
to-day,  after  many  years  of  the  presidency  and  the  busi- 
ness opportunities  which  it  presents  in  the  Black  Re- 
public, his  hands  pass  as  being  relatively  clean  in  money 
matters. 

He  was  a  rough-and-ready  darky  soldier,  standing 
6  feet  4  inches  in  his  bare  feet,  which  are,  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  ebon  hue  of  his  face,  worn  white  from 
frequent  contact  with  the  rocky  trails  of  his  turbulent 
island  home.  He  drank  daily  an  amount  of  white  rum 
which  would  have  staggered  a  less  experienced  toper, 
and  was  always  puffing  away  at  the  great  black  cheroots 
of  the  Haytian  vegas,  v/hich  so  quickly  shatter  the 
nerves  of  those  accustomed  to  the  lighter  Cuban  smokes. 
General  Nord  Alexis  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
but  he  had  learned  to  paint  his  signature  to  official 
decrees. 

His  chief  asset  was  a  remarkable  wife,  a  woman,  like 
himself,  of  pure  African  blood  and  of  the  humblest 
antecedents.  Those  who  claim  that  for  the  sixty-eight 
years  of  their  married  life  this  remarkable  woman  in- 
spired her  husband's  political  course  may  be  mistaken. 
Certain  it  is,  however,  that  during  this  long  wedlock, 
whether  in  the  field  or  in  the  executive  mansion,  General 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  79 

Alexis  never  ate  food  that  had  not  been  prepared  for 
him  by  her  loving  hands.  In  Haytl,  where  the  poisoned 
dish  is  such  a  potent  political  weapon  and  so  frequently 
in  evidence,  such  a  helpmeet  was  invaluable.  Nord 
Alexis  may  not  owe  his  success  to  his  wife,  but  It  is 
thought  that  he  escaped  the  plots  of  his  enemies  through 
this  good  woman's  reliable  cooking. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  this  strange  pair  at  the  Cape, 
Mme.  Nord  Alexis  began  to  step  out  of  her  domestic 
shell  without,  however,  neglecting  even  for  a  meal  her 
culinary  duties.  She  had  always  been  a  fervent  adherent 
of  the  Voodoo  sect,  and  this  immediately  brought  her 
into  contact  with  the  most  reactionary  people  of  north- 
ern Haytl,  who  were  also  antagonistic  to  the  candidacy 
of  Dr.  Firmin,  who  had  lived  so  long  in  Paris  that  he 
had  well-nigh  forgotten  the  homely  (to  use  a  polite  ex- 
pression) ways  of  his  people,  and  experienced  the  great- 
est difficulty  in  speaking  their  patois. 

As  the  election  day  drew  near  Firmin  lodged  protest 
after  protest  with  the  provisional  government  against 
the  way  in  which  Nord  Alexis  was  conducting  himself 
and  the  elections,  all,  however,  to  no  purpose.  At  this 
time  there  were  twenty  candidates  for  the  exalted  office 
of  chief  magistrate,  but  Alexis  was  not  even  mentioned 
as  a  dark  horse.  The  result  of  the  election  was— 
whether  Firmin  did  not  control  the  votes  of  the  major- 
ity or  whether  Alexis  intimidated  them,  I  am  not  pre- 
pared to  say — that  the  learned  doctor  did  not  secure  the 
coveted  seat,  and  fled  to  Gonaives  on  the  west  coast  of 
Haytl,  where  he  was  elected  to  the  Chamber  and  imme- 
diately raised  his  standard,  which  was  regarded  by 
many  as  one  of  revolt  against  the  provisional  govern- 
ment. 


8o         THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Firmin  even  went  so  far  in  his  warlike  preparations 
as  to  start  a  navy,  and  soon  the  ill-fated  little  steamer, 
the  Crete  a  Pierrot,  under  command  of  a  half-caste  ad- 
venturer named  Killick,  was  flying  his  flag  and  commit- 
ting acts  upon  the  high  seas  which  Germany  at  least 
soon  denounced  as  piratical.  The  particular  act  which 
brought  the  Firmin  campaign  to  an  untimely  end  was 
the  search  of  the  Hamburg-American  steamer  Mar- 
comania  for  arms — the  arms  were  found  and  immedi- 
ately confiscated.  It  was  apparent  they  had  been  sent 
by  the  provisional  government  to  Nord  Alexis  for  the 
undoubted  purpose  of  arming  the  population  of  the 
north  against  the  adherents  of  Firmin. 

A  few  hours  after  the  Marco^nania  had  been  detained 
and  searched,  the  German  cruiser  Panther  appeared  in 
the  harbour  of  GonaiVes  and  gave  "Admiral"  Killick 
the  short  delay  of  fifteen  minutes  to  deliver  up  the 
Firmin  gunboat  Crete  a  Pierrot,  which  the  German  ofli- 
cers  had  declared  piratical.  Killick  sent  his  crew  on  shore, 
lighted  a  fuse  which  connected  with  his  magazine,  and 
smoked  a  cigar  quietly  on  deck  until  just,  as  the  board- 
ing party  was  leaving  the  German  cruiser,  his  little  ship 
blew  up.  This  mishap  and  the  development  of  Nord 
Alexis'  military  strength  ended  Dr.  Firmin's  chances  for 
the  presidency.  In  October  he  left  the  island  and  took 
refuge  in  Inagua.  From  there,  and  from  St.  Thomas, 
he  has  directed  and  sometimes  led  the  expeditions  which, 
during  the  last  five  years,  have  frequently  been  landed 
upon  the  Haytian  shores  for  the  purpose  of  expelling 
Nord  Alexis,  and  in  one  form  or  another  bringing  about 
a  change  of  government  more  .favourable  to  Firmin's 
chances. 

While  Firmin  still  held  the  field  and  Nord  Alexis  was 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  8i 

being  constantly  reinforced  so  that  he  might  promptly 
quell  what  the  provisional  government  regarded  as  an 
open  revolt,  the  wily  old  chieftain  had  secured  the  con- 
fidence of  the  three  or  four  more  prominent  candidates 
to  such  an  extent  that  they  each  despatched  to  his  aid 
all  the  ragged  soldiers  they  had  enrolled;  each,  of 
course,  in  support  of  his  own  particular  candidacy. 
There  is  much  reason  to  believe,  and  of  a  documentary 
character,  too,  I  am  informed,  that  the  candidates  did 
not  place  this  implicit  trust  In  the  aged  general's  good 
faith  until  they  had  each  in  turn,  and  In  the  strictest  con- 
fidence, it  would  seem,  received  ample  assurances  that 
he,  Nord  Alexis,  was  for  them  first,  last,  and  all  the 
time. 

With  his  army  largely  reinforced  In  this  manner, 
General  Nord  now  marched  south  across  country 
to  Port-au-Prince.  As  he  went  he  left  behind  him  to 
guard  the  main  strategic  points  small  garrisons  which, 
though  this  was  not  noticed  at  the  time,  were  mainly 
composed  of  partisans  of  the  presidential  candidates 
who  had,  under  the  protection  of  Alexis,  and  at  his  sug- 
gestion, formed  the  antl-FIrmin  coalition.  It  was  also 
noticed  that  as  the  aged  general  marched  into  Port-au- 
Prince,  the  capital  of  the  Black  Republic,  on  December 
14,  all  the  partisans  of  the  other  candidates  among  his 
soldiers  were  sturdily  flanked  by  men  who  could  be  relied 
upon  as  devoted  adherents  of  Nord  Alexis. 

Once  within  the  capital,  and  with  the  provisional 
government,  which  had  long  since  stripped  Itself  of 
every  available  man  to  send  him  reinforcements.  In  his 
grasp,  Nord  Alexis  spurned  further  disguise  and  openly 
presented  himself  to  the  assembled  deputies  and  senators 
as  a  presidential  candidate  whose  claims  it  would  not  be 


82  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

wise  to  overlook.  He  talked  of  his  long  years  spent  in 
the  service  of  the  State,  but  when  the  national  assembly 
hesitated,  he  surrounded  the  palace  in  which  they  met 
with  soldiers. 

On  the  night  of  December  21  the  general  visited 
the  Chamber  and  once  more,  and  in  person,  advanced  his 
claims.  Inside  the  palace  it  was  seen  that  great  prepara- 
tions for  a  banquet  were  in  progress,  and  outside  the 
soldiery  were  falling  into  little  groups  which  looked  un- 
commonly like  shooting  parties.  Soon  the  stern  alterna- 
tive was  presented  of  a  champagne  supper  or  a  general 
massacre.  The  deputies  reached  a  decision,  and  with 
loud  cries  of  "Liberty  or  death!"  the  select  men  of 
Hayti  filed  into  the  banqueting  hall  and  proclaimed 
General  Nord  Alexis  chief  magistrate. 

I  think  I  have  elsewhere  expressed  the  opinion,  which 
I  certainly  hold,  that  rarely  if  ever  are  the  revolutionary 
clashes  very  bloody  or  very  stubbornly  fought  out  to  a 
finish.  The  greatest  loss  of  human  life  takes  place  in 
bringing  in  the  unfortunate  and  unwilling  recruits  and 
through  the  punishment  of  those  who  held  back  or 
seemed  lukewarm,  by  the  horde  upon  whose  banners, 
for  the  moment,  victory  has  perched.  In  the  short  walk 
from  Port  de  Paix  to  the  Grande  Marne  I  have  come 
across  as  many  as  twenty  fresh  graves,  where  unfortu- 
nate peasants  had  been  shot  down  and  hastily  put  out 
of  sight,  as  they  sought  to  escape  the  recruiting  parties, 
and  some  there  were  doubtless  who  had  preferred  to 
run  the  gauntlet  of  the  guerrillas  by  whom  they  had 
been  captured,  rather  than  face  the  summary  court- 
martial  that  was  awaiting  them  at  the  nearest  military 
post.  Poor  devils  who  had  taken  the  last  remaining 
chance  of  liberty  and  freedom  in  the  jungle — and  lost. 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  83 

It  is  also  undeniable  that  a  great  many  private  feuds 
and  vendettas  are  paid  off  in  the  most  barbarous  way 
when  recruiting  parties  are  abroad  in  the  land.  When 
sent  into  the  country  upon  a  recruiting  foray,  with  orders 
to  spare  neither  time  nor  rope  in  bringing  in  cheerful 
volunteers,  the  commandant  of  the  party,  if  plied  with 
white  rum  or  complimented  upon  his  uniform  and  mar- 
tial bearing,  can  generally  be  persuaded  to  make  two  or 
three  additional  victims.  When  the  capricious  arrest  or 
the  illegal  recruiting  ends,  as  it  frequently  does,  in  cold- 
blooded murder,  the  victim  is  thrown  into  a  shallow 
grave,  a  bamboo  post  is  stuck  at  his  head,  and  here  are 
hung  his  battered  hat  and  satchel  of  straw;  perhaps 
also  the  stem  of  the  banana  bunch  upon  which  he 
was  munching  when  death  came.  It  should  ever  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  military  banditti  who  rule  the 
country  form  a  very  close  corporation  into  which  men 
are  born  but  are  rarely  admitted  on  other  grounds. 
After  the  revolution  of  the  moment  is  over,  and  the  need 
for  their  services  ceases,  the  victors  in  the  fray  dismiss 
the  recruits  they  have  drafted  by  such  forcible  methods, 
to  whom,  while  hostilities  continued,  they  have  invari- 
ably granted  the  posts  of  honour  and  of  danger;  and, 
while  the  available  offices  and  sinecures  are  being  di- 
vided among  the  professionals,  the  soldiers  improvised 
for  the  campaign  are  allowed  to  beg  their  bread  or  to 
starve  to  death  as  they  limp  back  across  the  country 
to  their  often  ruined  homes  and  uprooted  coffee-patches. 

In  the  hostilities  that  prevailed  in  the  spring  of  1903 
I  became  interested  in  the  fate  of  one  of  these  unfortu- 
nates. He  was  a  "  volunteer,"  who  had  been  captured 
in  the  mountains  back  of  the  Cape  and  compelled  to 
fight   with    the    professionals    and    the    mercenaries    of 


84  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Alexis  Nord  against  the  counter-revolution  headed  by 
Dr.  Firmin.  As  he  had  to  fight,  and  as  at  least  one 
feature  of  the  situation  was  clear  to  him,  that  the  other 
fellows  were  trying  to  kill  him,  my  acquaintance  fought 
as  hard  as  he  could  for  the  cause  with  which,  in  some 
inextricable  way,  his  life  had  become  involved;  and 
a  sabre-cut  over  the  head  and  a  musket-ball  in  the 
shoulder  showed  he  had  been  in  the  thick  of  the  fight. 
When  he,  with  others,  ultimately  landed  Nord  Alexis 
in  the  Black  House,  the  old  war-horse,  who  became 
President  so  late  in  life,  was  very  grateful  and  made  his 
fighting  men  many  complimentary  speeches.  Particu- 
larly my  battle-scarred  acquaintance  was  given  to  be- 
lieve that  for  him  a  handsome  sum  of  money  would  be 
forthcoming,  and  perhaps  a  nice  little  office,  with  a  good 
salary  attached. 

Months  went  by  and  none  of  these  promises  were 
realised.  He  came  very  near  to  starvation,  and  on  sev- 
eral occasions  I  surprised  him  as  he  waited  by  the  slop- 
chute  of  a  foreign  steamer  for  the  Barmecide  feast 
which  at  certain  hours  is  dropped  out  into  the  dirty 
waters  of  the  harbour. 

The  last  time  I  met  him  the  patient,  long-suffering 
expression  had  given  way  to  one  which  bordered  on  con- 
tentment. He  had  his  belongings  wrapped  in  a  hand- 
kerchief and  was  evidently  on  the  march. 

*'  Well,  have  you  been  given  the  office?  "  I  enquired, 
with  a  cruelty  which  was  far  from  being  intentional. 

"  No,"  came  the  answer,  while,  for  a  moment,  the 
cheerful  expression  vanished;  then  brightening  again,  he 
added,  "  but  the  President,  in  vieW-  of  my  wounds  and 
excellent  services,  has  kindly  given  me  the  right  to 
return  to  work." 


'^^l 


a, 


U 
h 


Jiiiil 


THE  BLACK  REPUBLIC  85 

"Where?"  I  enquired,  thinking  a  place  had  been 
made  for  him  on  one  of  the  government  farms. 

"  Where?  "  he  repeated,  with  amazement  at  the  ab- 
surdity of  my  question.  "Why,  wherever  I  can  find 
work."  And  that  afternoon,  despite  the  flooded  con- 
dition of  the  trails  and  the  torrential  rains  which  were 
falling,  he  started  north,  seeking  work  where  he  could 
find  it,  and  happy  in  the  possession  of  all  his  limbs  and 
of  fair  health,  which  is  not  the  common  lot  of  those 
who  are  drafted  into  the  services  of  the  government  or 
the  revolution  in  Hayti. 

The  revolution  and  civil  war  out  of  which  General 
Simon  has  recently  emerged  victorious,  was  inevitable, 
but  it  was  certainly  hastened  by  the  action  of  President 
Nord,  who,  anxious  to  assist  the  presidential  campaign 
of  his  nephew,  Camille  Gabriel,  removed  Simon  from 
his  oflice  as  delegate  of  the  south.  For  reasons  which 
are  more  easy  to  understand  than  to  explain  to  those 
who  have  never  breathed  the  Haytian  atmosphere  and 
are  unacquainted  with  the  political  ways  of  these  truly 
black  republicans,  although  General  Simon  has  main- 
tained himself  In  power  for  nearly  a  year,  he  is  still 
generally  regarded  throughout  the  island  as  a  mere 
stop-gap. 

The  true  leading  aspirants  to  the  office  are  General 
Jean  Gilles,  delegate  of  the  north,  and  Dr.  Firmin. 
Gilles  is  a  typical  chief  of  the  banditti  hordes,  who 
regard  the  public  offices  of  the  country  as  so  many  per- 
quisites reserved  for  themselves  alone.  He  Is  very 
popular  with  the  soldiers  In  the  north,  who.  In  battle, 
have  generally  given  a  better  account  of  themselves  than 
have  their  brethren  of  the  south.     It  will  be  a  surprise 


86  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

to  many  if  Gilles  does  not  soon  attain  the  goal  of  his 
undisguised  ambition. 

Dr.  Firmin  *  is  still  in  the  field,  though  not  in  Hayti. 
Doubtless  he  will  present  himself,  and  with  armed 
force,  before  the  revolutionary  election,  which  is  so 
orthodox  in  Hayti,  is  closed. 

In  his  platform  Dr.  Firmin  promises  to  make  the 
civil  branch  of  the  government  supreme,  and  he  is  sup- 
ported by  a  Belgo-German  firm  which  has  made  much 
money  in  selling  war  stores  to  previous  administrations. 
Perhaps  they  have  seen  the  error  of  their  ways,  and 
once  their  candidate  is  elected,  will  only  submit  peace- 
ful wares  to  his  attention,  but,  as  a  rule,  the  people  of 
Hayti  do  not  think  so. 

The  solid  opposition  of  the  military  banditti  is  at 
once  the  glory  and  the  heavy  handicap  of  Dr.  Firmin's 
candidacy.  An  even  more  serious  obstacle  to  his  long- 
cherished  ambition  is,  I  take  it,  the  feeling  among  the 
people  that  if  elected  in  one  way  or  another  Firmin — 
that  is,  the  people — would  have  to  pay  the  at  present 
unsettled  or  "  carried  over"  expenses  of  his  two  presi- 
dential campaigns  and  four  revolutionary  efforts. 

Firmin  at  times,  when  it  suits  his  purpose  of  the 
moment,  claims  to  have  in  his  candidacy  the  tacit  sup- 
port of  the  United  States.  There  is,  of  course,  no  sub- 
stantial basis  to  this  claim  other  than  the  fact  that  on 
one  or  two  occasions  when  Dr.  Firmin,  in  exile,  came  to 
Washington,  he  was  privately  received  by  Mr.  Root, 
then  Secretary  of  State. 

*Dr.  Firmin's  presidential  aspirations  were  terminated  by  an  un- 
expectedly peaceful  death  in  April,  1912. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Truth  About  Voodoo 

In  the  West  Indies,  from  Demerara  to  Honduras, 
from  Panama  to  St.  Thomas,  when  people  tire  of  talk- 
ing about  the  sugar  tariff  or  the  Governor's  last  garden 
party,  they  as  often  as  not,  and  rather  oftener,  I  think, 
fall  to  talking  about  the  cannibalistic  practices  and  Voo- 
doo crimes  of  the  superstitious  Haytian  blacks.  It  is 
not  a  comfortable  theme  of  conversation,  but  it  is  inter- 
esting as  it  comes  so  near  home  to  them  all. 

All  these  weird  and  creepy  stories  and  gooseflesh- 
raising  rumours  lend  an  interest  to  the  sight  of  the  shores 
of  Hayti  which  is  not  aroused  when  the  other  islands 
swim  into  view  upon  the  waves  of  the  turquoise  sea. 
When  the  first  Haytian  land-fall  is  made,  West  Indians, 
as  well  as  travellers  from  more  distant  climes,  throng 
the  bridge  and  even  the  look-out  aloft,  if  the  captain 
permits,  and  begin  to  make  discoveries.  One  of  the 
most  common  of  these  rests  upon  nothing  more  sub- 
stantial than  the  lazy  columns  of  smoke  which  one  sees 
so  frequently  floating  slowly  heavenward  from  the  Hay- 
tian jungles  and  the  highland  forests.  What  is  gener- 
ally the  fire  of  some  lonely  charcoal-burner,  or  a  party 
of  peasants  making  a  clearing  to  be  planted  in  the  wood- 
land, is  by  the  power  of  imagination  and  of  ignorance 
transformed  into  the  scene  of  a  cannibalistic  feast.  If 
there  be  a  passenger  on  board  who  has  been  in  Hayti, 
or,  better  still,  lived  there,  his  position  of  supreme  au- 

87 


88  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

thority  Is  an  enviable  one,  and,  human  nature  being 
what  it  is,  he  sometimes  abuses  it. 

The  truth  is,  that  while  you  need  have  no  fear  what- 
ever of  eating  human  flesh  in  Hayti  disguised  as  a  roast 
or  as  a  round  of  beef,  there  is  no  place  in  the  world 
where  you  could  so  easily  satisfy  a  cannibalistic  craving 
as  in  this  land,  whose  centre  is  not  much  further  from 
New  York,  the  empire  city  of  the  Western  World,  than 
is  Chicago  or  Milwaukee. 

Voodoo  is  not  a  written  creed  over  which  a  house 
of  bishops  presides  publicly,  a  fact  which  should  ac- 
count for  the  many  and  extremely  varied  versions  of 
its  practices  which  are  in  circulation  through  the  world. 
It  is  certainly  not  a  mere  veneer  or  an  old  garment  from 
the  Congo  days  of  the  black  race  which  has  not  yet  been 
cast  away.  But  it  is  a  substantial  edifice  of  West 
African  superstition,  serpent  worship,  and  child  sacrifice 
which  exists  in  Hayti  to-day,  and  which  undoubtedly 
would  become  rampant  throughout  the  island  were  it 
not  for  the  check  and  control  upon  native  practices 
which  the  foreign  residents  exercise. 

Several  Roman  Catholic  priests,  who  have  long 
resided  in  the  heart  of  Hayti,  told  me  that  one  of  the 
hardships  and  difficulties  of  the  combat  against  African 
darkness  upon  which  they  are  engaged,  is  the  extreme 
reticence  not  only  of  the  active  Voodooists  themselves, 
but  of  all  blacks  in  regard  to  the  fetich-worshipping 
rites. 

A  Haytian  is  often  absolutely  lacking  in  that  form  of 
self-respect  which  is  the  last  to  depart  from  the  most 
ignoble  white.  "  All  will  confess  the  most  despicable 
crimes,"  said  my  priestly  informant,  "  and  admit  hav- 
ing sunk  to  the  lowest  forms  of  human  degradation,  but, 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  89 

even  should  you  see  him  at  the  dance  under  the  sahlier 
tree  at  night,  all  smeared  with  the  blood  which  may  have 
flowed  in  the  veins  of  a  cock,  or  goat,  or  even  a  human 
child,  he  will  deny  having  anything  in  common  with  the 
Voodoo  sectaries." 

It  is  this  reticence  that  has  Impressed  many  observers 
most  unfavourably  and  caused  them  to  jump  to  the 
conclusion — an  erroneous  one,  I  believe — that  the  Voo- 
doo gospel  simply  preaches  the  massacre  and  general 
destruction  of  whites,  wherever  found.  Men  wise  in 
African  tongues  say  that  the  horrible  talismanic  word 
should  be  written  "  vodun,"  a  term  widely  diffused 
among  the  upper  Guinea  tribes,  and  supposed  to  indicate 
the  all-powerful,  non-venomous  serpent  who  controls 
all  human  events,  who  knows  all  things  past,  present, 
or  to  come,  and  who  communicates  his  dreaded  power 
to  the  high  priests  and  priestesses  of  the  sect,  the  papa- 
lols,  or  "  papa  kings,"  the  mamalois,  or  "  mama 
queens,"  who  rule  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of 
Hayti  by  the  wand  of  wizardry  and  the  fear  which  it 
inspires. 

There  is  still  another  definition  of  the  term  Voodoo, 
to  which  I  find  that  many  of  the  French  priests  and 
other  ancient  settlers  in  the  country  are  inclined.  They 
say,  or  many  of  them  do,  that  the  word  is  not  of  African 
origin  at  all,  though  used  to  describe  African  rites,  but 
is  a  corruption  of  the  old  French  word  vaudois,  meaning 
magician. 

Mr.  Leger,  the  Haytian  Minister  in  Washington,  in 
his  book  of  special  pleading,  entitled  "  Hayti  and  Her 
Detractors,"  speaks  of  the  fearful  loupgarous,  the  re- 
ligious kidnappers  of  children,  as  though  they  were 
simply  legendary  monsters,  or  if  they  really  ever  lived 


90  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  did  their  devilish  work,  are  to-day  as  extinct  in 
Hayti  as  the  werewolf  of  Saxon  days  in  England. 

Of  course,  the  countercharge  which  Mr.  Leger  makes 
that  child-stealing  is  not  unknown  in  Europe  and  in 
America  is  perfectly  true,  but  here  he  simply  dodges 
the  gravamen  of  the  charges  which  are  brought  by  every 
intelligent  foreigner  and  many  of  his  countrymen  whose 
position  is  so  independent  that  they  can,  or  think  they 
can,  tell  the  truth  and  reveal  the  devilish  practice  in  all 
its  revolting  cruelty. 

Of  course,  the  real  charge  against  Haytian  civilisa- 
tion is  not  that  children  are  frequently  stolen  from  their 
parents  and  are  often  put  to  death  with  torture,  and 
subsequently  eaten  with  pomp  at  a  Voodoo  ceremony, 
but  that  Haytian  officials,  often  the  highest  In  the 
land,  not  only  protect  the  kidnappers,  but  fre- 
quently take  part  In  the  cannibalistic  rites  which  they 
make  possible.  This  Is  the  charge  which  I  bring  and 
which  I  am  prepared  to  substantiate  in  every  particular 
upon  evidence  which  appears  to  me,  and  to  many  others 
to  whom  I  have  submitted  It,  to  be  absolutely  unim- 
peachable. 

Of  recent  cases  of  kidnapping  I  have  only  the  heart 
to  relate  two,  which  fortunately  did  not  reach  the  final 
tragic  stage.  It  should  be  borne  In  mind  that,  when  the 
crime  Is  completely  successful,  no  evidence  remains  that 
would  warrant  an  Investigation. 

In  one  of  the  northern  ports  an  East  Indian  woman 
was  sleeping  by  the  side  of  her  child.  She  had  lulled  It 
to  slumber  and  then  fallen  asleep  herself,  when  sud- 
denly she  was  awakened  by  a  sharp  earthquake  shock. 
In  her  terror  she  stretched  out  her  arms  to  protect  her 
child  from  falling  beams  or  rafters,  and  found  that  the 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  91 

infant  was  gone.  The  place  where  she  had  cradled  it  a 
few  minutes  before  was  still  warm,  but  the  child  was 
missing.  There  could  be  no  doubt  of  that,  and  the 
anxiety  which,  though  dormant,  oppresses  every 
woman's  heart  in  Hayti  awakened  to  a  living  reality. 

The  frantic  mother  searched  the  chamber  and  even 
the  whole  house,  but  in  vain.  She  was  still  engaged 
in  this  when  the  nurse  girl,  a  coal-black  native  Haytian, 
arrived  on  the  scene.  She  was  evidently  disconcerted  at 
finding  her  mistress  awake,  but  professed  to  know  noth- 
ing as  to  the  whereabouts  of  the  child.  Her  mistress 
noticed  from  her  first  appearance  on  the  scene  that  the 
nurse  girl  seemed  out  of  breath  and  apprehensive.  In 
her  excitement  she  talked  continually  and  with  dread  ap- 
prehension of  the  earthquake  and  the  probability  of  a 
recurrence.  Her  absence  at  this  hour  of  the  night  was 
so  unusual  and  her  whole  bearing  was  so  strange  that 
the  suspicions  of  the  mother  immediately  fell  upon  the 
nurse  girl,  though  for  two  years  she  had  been  a  kind 
and,  indeed,  a  most  affectionate  and  trusted  guardian  of 
the  missing  child. 

Though  it  was  now  the  dead  of  night  the  distracted 
mother  rushed  to  the  house  of  the  commanding  gen- 
eral, and  found  him  awake  and  much  disturbed  over  the 
earthquake  shock.  Though  on  the  verge  of  despair  she 
was  not  without  guile,  and  immediately  began  to  profit 
by  the  abject  state  of  nervousness  in  which  she  found  the 
black  chief.  "  The  earth  itself  trembles  at  the  sight  of 
the  crime  which  has  been  committed  upon  me  and  upon 
my  child,"  exclaimed  the  mother,  assuming  the  mien  and 
bearing  of  a  prophetess.  "  What  horrible  things  are 
about  to  happen!  alas!  that  the  innocent  should  suffer 
along  with  the  guilty!  " 


92  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

The  superstitious  general,  now  thoroughly  aroused, 
set  to  work  to  save  himself,  and  the  town  over  whose 
government  he  presided,  from  the  fate  which  the 
prophetess  of  the  strange  East  Indian  race,  with  her 
second  sight,  saw  was  Impending.  He  probably  was 
absolutely  Innocent  of  any  complicity  In  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  child,  but  with  his  local  knowledge  of  people 
and  conditions,  he  was  able  to  obtain  Information  which 
would  have  been  a  sealed  book  to  any  one  else,  and 
which  would,  indeed.  In  all  probability  not  have  been 
disclosed  to  him  had  not  the  earthquake  shock,  In  throw- 
ing down  a  few  shaky  huts,  strikingly  Illustrated  the 
existence  of  a  power  which  was  visibly  greater  than  the 
African  Voodoo, 

In  a  few  minutes  the  general  learned  all  the  facts 
about  the  nurse  girl,  which  had  been  so  easily  and  so 
carefully  withheld  from  the  East  Indian  family.  Her 
mother  was  a  witch  doctor  who  lived  in  the  mountains 
some  ten  miles  back  of  the  port  town  where  the  occur- 
rence took  place.  Within  an  hour  after  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  child  soldiers  were  on  the  trail,  and  before 
morning  the  child  was  discovered  in  the  mountain  hut 
alone  with  the  mother  witch  and  a  few  votaries  of  the 
dark  cult.  The  child  was  rescued,  but  no  arrests  were 
made.  The  poor  little  elf  had  been  drugged  in  some 
way,  and  It  was  weeks  and  even  months  before  it  was 
restored  to  normal  health.  A  prosecution  was  not  in- 
sisted upon  for  many  reasons,  the  principal  one  being 
that  the  overjoyed  mother  was  fearful  that  the  curse 
and  Voodoo  incantations,  from  which  her  child  still  suf- 
fered, would  be  strengthened  and  renewed  in  case  a 
policy  of  revenge  was  pursued. 

Another  and  still  more  recent  case  of  child-stealing 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  93 

occurred  in  the  capital.  This  victim  was  a  white  child, 
the  only  offspring  of  a  foreigner  and  his  wife,  who  had 
been  for  some  time  domiciled  in  Port-au-Prince,  and 
were  apparently  popular  in  all  classes  of  society.  The 
child  was  sent  out  every  morning  for  a  promenade  in 
its  baby-carriage  through  the  open  squares,  in  charge 
of  a  French  nurse.  One  morning  this  woman  became 
engaged  in  conversation  with  friends,  and  possibly  en- 
tered a  shop,  never,  however,  leaving  the  baby-carriage 
out  of  her  sight.  At  last,  turning  homeward,  the  nurse 
came  to  a  deep  gutter  over  which  she  thought  it  best 
not  to  roll  but  to  lift  the  child  and  the  carriage  bodily. 
But,  to  her  horror  and  amazement,  she  found  the  car- 
riage was  empty. 

As  was  natural,  the  nurse  made  a  frantic  outcry,  and 
in  a  few  minutes  the  parents  and,  in  fact,  the  whole 
population  of  the  capital  were  apprised  of  the  startling 
occurrence,  and  the  consular  and  diplomatic  officers 
were  called  in.  Fortunately,  most  fortunately,  there 
was  at  the  time  a  foreign  man-of-war  in  the  harbour, 
and  a  great  deal  of  use  was  made  of  this  in  an  unofficial 
way  by  the  minister  of  the  country  to  which  the  parents 
of  the  missing  child  owed  allegiance.  In  fear  of  a  shell 
being  dropped  in  the  Black  House  or  a  bombardment 
of  the  city,  which  had  been  hinted  at,  Nord  Alexis  for 
once  turned  away  from  his  Voodoo  friends  and  protect- 
ors. Hundreds  of  police  rushed  through  the  city,  and 
all  who  were  able  instituted  a  house-to-house  search, 
crying  as  they  went  the  Voodoo  word,  "  Wrongda  I 
Wrongda!     Here  there  has  been  a  charm." 

Under  the  circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that  in  an 
hour  or  two  the  stolen  child  was  found  in  a  deserted 
house.     A  toothless  old  hag  on  the  premises  said  she 


94  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

had  come  upon  the  child  alone  upon  the  street,  and  had 
brought  her  indoors  out  of  harm's  way.  The  unfortu- 
nate child  was  found  to  be  stupefied  as  though  by  the 
influence  of  some  drug,  and  was  taken  home.  The  hag, 
in  the  face  of  the  popular  outcry,  was  lodged  in  prison. 
The  best  doctors  in  the  capital  were  summoned  and, 
one  after  another,  endeavoured  to  restore  the  little 
sufferer  to  normal  mental  and  physical  health,  but  all  to 
no  purpose. 

For  weeks  and  months  the  child  hovered  between  life 
and  death,  and  in  conscious  moments  its  actions  were 
those  of  an  imbecile.  Upon  one  thing  all  the  doctors 
agreed :  A  powerful  drug  had  been  administered,  but  in 
the  matter  of  combating  its  hateful  influence  they  were 
not  helpful. 

The  foregoing  are  facts  which  can  be  corroborated 
by  a  thousand  witnesses,  but  from  here  on  we  enter  upon 
the  realm  of  surmise  and  presumption.  One  by  one, 
the  foreign  doctors  retired  from  the  case,  and,  one  by 
one,  Haytian  friends,  of  whom  the  unfortunate  couple 
had  many,  began  to  drop  in  and  make  suggestions. 
After  all,  was  their  contention,  no  one  understood  Hay- 
tian herbs  and  Haytian  philters  as  well  as  Haytians 
themselves.  Incidentally  they  remarked  the  old  hag, 
who  was  still  in  prison,  though  it  was  apparent  that,  for 
want  of  evidence  and  want  of  will  to  do  so,  the  gov- 
ernment would  never  bring  her  to  trial,  was  an  herb 
doctor  and  a  mistress  of  charms  and  philters  without  an 
equal  in  the  country. 

There  seems  to  have  followed  a  "  transaction  "  of  the 
kind  which  is  not  so  repulsive  to  the  tropical  as  to  the 
New  England  conscience.  The  principals  to  it  had  dis- 
appeared from  view  when  I  reached  the  capital,  and 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  95 

the  supposed  accessories  were  reluctant  to  be  drawn 
further  into  the  matter.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  about 
one  and  the  same  time  the  hag  of  the  poisoned  philters 
was  liberated  from  prison,  and  the  afflicted  child  was 
relieved  of  the  infirmities  of  mind  and  body  from  which 
it  had  suffered  ever  since  the  day  of  the  kidnapping.  A 
week  later  the  happy  couple  left  the  country,  never  to 
return,  overjoyed  that  their  strange  Haytian  experi- 
ence had  not  left  an  ineffaceable  scar  upon  their  lives. 

I  will  conclude  these  illustrations  of  actual  Voodoo 
practices  with  one  which  I  wish  to  emphasise,  not  be- 
cause it  is  particularly  gruesome,  or  because  it  shows 
in  an  unusually  lurid  light  the  lawlessness  of 
the  serpent-  and  devil-worshippers,  but  simply  be- 
cause it  seems  to  me  that  here  at  least  we  have  a  story 
with  abundant  data  to  proceed  upon,  which  should  and 
could  be  investigated. 

A  man  of  the  better  and  more  well-to-do  working 
class  in  Port-au-Prince  fell  ill.  He  had  at  intervals  a  high 
fever,  which  the  physician  who  attended  him  could  not 
reduce.  The  man  had  some  months  before  joined  the 
congregation  of  one  of  the  foreign  churches,  and  the 
head  of  this  mission  visited  him.  On  the  occasion  of  his 
second  visit  this  clergyman  saw  the  patient  die,  and  at 
the  invitation  of  the  man's  wife  and  of  his  physician,  he 
helped  to  dress  the  dead  man  in  his  grave-clothes,  which, 
after  the  Haytian  custom,  is  quite  a  ceremony.  The 
next  day  this  foreigner,  and  at  least  a  dozen  other  men, 
all  natives  and  of  good  standing,  assisted  at  the  funeral, 
closed  the  coffin  lid  upon  the  face  of  their  dead  friend, 
accompanied  the  funeral  cortege  to  the  cemetery,  and 
there  saw  the  dead  man  buried  four  feet  under  ground. 

The  malady  of  which  he  died,  according  to  the  at- 


96  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

tending  physician,  a  man  of  good  intentions  and  of 
undoubted  probity,  at  least,  was  not  an  unusual  one,  and 
it  ran  a  normal  course.  There  was,  indeed,  not  a  sug- 
gestion or  even  thought  of  foul  play,  until  two  days 
later,  when  the  bereaved  widow  went  to  the  cemetery 
only  to  find  that  the  grave  had  been  opened,  and  to  see 
the  empty  coffin  lying  beside  it.  The  stricken  woman 
rushed  to  the  nearest  police  office  and  there  was  prom- 
ised a  thorough  investigation.  In  return  for  this 
promise  and  the  apparent  activity  of  the  police  in  her 
behalf,  the  unfortunate  woman  acquiesced  in  the  policy 
of  secrecy  and  silence  which  they  imposed  upon  her. 

As  it  subsequently  transpired,  this  was  the  only  step 
which  the  authorities  took  in  the  matter,  and  it  was  well 
in  accord  with  the  invariable  governmental  attitude 
of  suppression  or  denial  in  the  presence  of  all  Voodoo 
crimes.  This,  however,  was  to  be  one  of  the  com- 
paratively few  instances  which,  owing  to  a  fortunate 
accident,  escaped  the  systematic  stifling  process.  On  the 
day  after  the  widow's  discovery  the  mail  rider  between 
Jacmel  and  the  capital  arrived  several  hours  late,  but 
with  a  story  which  could  not  be  otherwise  than  accepted 
as  a  valid  excuse.  His  was  indeed  an  astonishing  tale, 
and  it  is  not  remarkable  that  at  first  many  were  disin- 
clined to  believe  it. 

He  reported,  however,  and  subsequently  substanti- 
ated every  detail  of  his  story  as  follows:  On  the  night 
in  question  he  was  not  pursuing  his  usual  mail  route. 
The  waters  of  the  Grande  River  were  so  swollen  by 
recent  rains  that  he  had  been  compelled  to  leave  the 
beaten  trail  and,  in  some  places,  to  travel  across  country. 
While  doing  so,  and  while  doubtless  drowsy  from  his 
long  night's  ride  and  vigil,  he  suddenly  rode  into  a 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  97 

great  clearing  lit  up  by  a  huge  wood  fire.  A  dozen 
men  and  women  who  were  gathered  around  the  fire 
rushed  angrily  at  him,  and  the  mail  rider,  not  unnatu- 
rally concluding  that  he  had  fallen  upon  thieves,  opened 
fire  with  his  revolver.  The  strange  woodland  mob  fled 
wildly  shrieking  into  the  darkest  recesses  of  the  wood, 
leaving  the  astonished  traveller  standing  alone,  as  he 
thought,  by  the  mysterious  fire  in  the  clearing. 

The  mail  rider  took  a  swig  of  rum  to  steady  his 
nerves,  and  was  about  to  beat  a  hasty  retreat  back  to 
the  flooded  trail,  which  now  contained  for  him  nothing 
so  fearful  as  the  mysteriously  populated  forest,  when 
suddenly,  despite  the  rum,  his  blood  ran  cold.  A  long 
moan,  as  of  some  one  in  mortal  agony,  fell  upon  his 
ear.  Twice,  according  to  his  own  story,  the  mail  rider 
fled  the  ghostly  place,  and  twice  something  which  he 
could  not  define  or  overcome  brought  him  back. 

At  last,  snatching  up  a  burning  cedar  branch  from 
the  fire,  he  looked  all  about  him,  and  the  mystery  of 
the  moans  at  last  was  quickly  explained.  Not  twenty 
feet  from  the  fire  and  facing  it,  he  saw  a  man  dressed 
in  the  garments  of  the  grave,  who,  though  tied  to  a 
tree  and  gagged,  was  still  faintly  moaning  and  still 
weakly  struggling  to  be  free.  The  mail  rider,  after  a 
moment's  hesitation,  getting  the  better  of  his  fears, 
freed  the  poor  wretch,  who  soon  recovered  his  speech 
but  not  his  mind.  He  could  give  no  coherent  account 
of  how  he  had  come  into  this  strange  plight,  and  finally 
the  mail  rider  mounted  him  on  his  horse,  tied  him  to 
the  saddle,  and  led  the  way  to  the  nearest  military  post 
on  the  road. 

Here  he  turned  the  strange  waif  of  the  forest,  who 
was  still  incoherent  in  his  speech,  over  to  the  soldiers  of 


98  THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  guard,  and  hurried  on  himself  to  the  capital  with 
his  mail-bags.  Once  there,  he  not  only  reported  the 
matter  to  the  authorities,  which  might  have  been  for- 
given, but  he  not  unnaturally  talked  about  it  to  all  his 
friends,  an  indiscretion  which  ultimately  cost  him  his 
place.  Port-au-Prince  was  wild  with  excitement,  and 
the  next  day  the  unfortunate  man  was  brought  into 
town.  Pie  was  lodged  in  jail,  for  want  of  a  better  place, 
and  here  he  was  immediately  identified  by  his  wife 
and  by  the  physician  who,  a  few  days  before,  had  pro- 
nounced him  dead,  and  by  the  clergyman  who  had 
read  the  service  over  his  body.  The  recognition  was 
not  mutual,  however.  The  unfortunate  victim  of  Voo- 
doo barbarity  recognised  no  one,  and  his  days  and 
nights  were  spent  in  moaning  and  groaning  and  in  ut- 
tering inarticulate  words  which  no  one  could  under- 
stand. 

A  careful  investigation  was  promised,  but  from  time 
to  time  postponed,  and  finally  definitely  abandoned. 
The  procurateur,  or  district  attorney,  who  had  been 
appealed  to  by  the  whole  foreign  colony,  and,  indeed, 
in  private  by  many  prominent  Haytians,  confessed  he 
could  do  nothing,  because  of  the  mental  decay  into 
which  the  unfortunate  man  had  fallen;  but  it  was  in 
reality  because  of  the  opposition  of  the  President  and 
the  whole  reigning  Black  Plouse  crowd  to  his  taking 
any  steps  in  the  matter,  as,  indeed,  he  is  reported  to 
have  admitted  in  private. 

The  unfortunate  wretch  was  never  allowed  to  return 
to  his  home,  and,  indeed,  his  identity  was  never  officially 
admitted,  though  the  wife  pointed  out  that  even  the 
shroud  he  still  wore  when  he  v/as  brought  into  the  city 
bore  his  name  written  upon  it.     As  the  man  never  re- 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  99 

covered  his  reason  and  the  expected  revelations  were 
not  forthcoming,  Interest  on  the  part  at  least  of  the 
aroused  community  died  away,  and  eventually  the  man, 
who  had  become  perfectly  Imbecile,  was  quietly  re- 
moved from  the  city  prison  by  the  order  of  President 
Nord  Alexis,  and  placed  on  a  government  farm  near 
Gonaives,  which  Is  worked  by  the  Insane  and  by  con- 
victs with  Influence  enough  to  get  them  out  of  the  city 
dungeons. 

Here,  In  this  retreat,  the  unfortunate  man  was  liv- 
ing last  October,  when  I  was  In  Haytl.  Here  he  had 
been  secretly  visited  by  his  wife  and  by  the  clergyman 
I  have  already  mentioned,  and  by  many  others  who  had 
been  present  at  his  funeral  and  Interment.  These  are 
all  the  facts  of  this  extraordinary  case  that  can  be 
vouched  for,  but  the  Inferences  which  are  drawn  from 
the  facts  are  so  generally  made  and  In  such  perfect 
agreement  are  they,  whether  made  by  foreigners  or 
educated  Haytlans,  that  while  not  evidence,  they  should 
not  be  entirely  without  weight. 

This  general  opinion,  a  plausible  accounting  for  the 
foregoing  not  closely  connected  facts.  Is  as  follows : 
The  Voodoo  sectaries  of  the  capital  were  on  the  lookout 
for  a  human  sacrifice.  A  heart  or  a  quart  of  the  heart's 
blood  was  required  as  an  offering  to  the  Guinea  coast 
fetich  always  guarded  by  the  little  green  snake.  The 
baleful  eyes  of  the  witch  doctors,  the  papalols  and  the 
mamalols,  fell  upon  this  unfortunate  man,  who  had 
come  Into  unusual  notice  of  late  because  of  his  entrance 
as  a  fervent  member  Into  one  of  the  Protestant  mis- 
sions. A  poison  was  administered  to  him  In  his  food 
which  brought  about  his  apparent  death  without  excit- 
ing any  suspicion  of  what  had  really  happened,  and  a 


100        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

few  hours  after  his  Interment  he  was  dug  up  and  car- 
ried through  the  night  to  the  clearing  of  the  woods, 
where  later  the  mail  rider  appeared  in  time  to  save  his 
life  but  not  his  mind. 

It  is  generally  thought  that  the  same  medicine  man 
upon  whose  orders  the  poison  had  been  administered, 
was  giving  the  antidote  to  the  wretched  man,  trussed  up 
to  the  tree,  when  the  mail  carrier  dropped  in  so  unex- 
pectedly. Not  with  any  purpose  of  saving  the  un- 
fortunate's life  was  the  antidote  about  to  be  adminis- 
tered, claim  those  who  seem  to  be  the  best  acquainted 
with  the  ways  of  the  high  priests  of  Voodoo,  but  simply 
to  restore  vitality  and  reason  for  a  few  fleeting  mo- 
ments because  the  dread  Guinea  god  of  the  blacks 
exacts  a  suffering  and  a  knowing  victim  for  the  human 
sacrifice. 

There  are  many  who  believe  that  even  at  this  late 
day  if  the  papaloi  or  medicine  man  who  first  admin- 
istered the  poison  to  this  unfortunate  could  be  found 
an  antidote  might  be  forthcoming  that  would  restore 
the  victim  of  these  barbarous  practices  to  health  and 
to  reason,  and  many  instances  are  related  which  are 
the  common  knowledge  of  reputable  people  which  go 
far  to  confirm  this  belief.  In  fact,  if  a  serious  prosecu- 
tion of  these  malefactors,  who  work  in  the  guise  of 
religious  servants.  Is  ever  undertaken,  the  most  serious 
obstacle  to  success  will  be  the  unfortunate  victims  them- 
selves and  their  families,  who  dread  the  power  which 
has  been  demonstrated  upon  those  who  are  near  and 
dear  to  them. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  Truth  About  Voodoo  (continued) 

Every  moonlight  night  in  Hayti  you  hear  in  the 
woods  the  tom-tomming  of  the  Voodoo  drums  and  you 
know  that  the  devil's  priests  are  astir.  On  the  horizon 
burns  a  great  campfire,  and  around  it  dance  weird  and 
shadowy  forms.  Now  and  again  a  piercing  shriek 
rends  the  air,  whether  of  joy  or  of  pain  or  uttered  at  the 
sight  of  death,  you  know  not,  and  your  friend  and 
mentor,  acclimated  by  twenty  years  of  residence  and 
sophisticated  by  much  study  of  this  strange  people, 
takes  you  by  the  hand  and  says,  at  least  so  did  mine: 
"  It  is  time,  high  time,  to  go  now." 

So  I  never  saw  the  dark  frenzy  of  the  African  rites 
descend  to  the  level  of  the  cannibalistic  feasts  which, 
at  least  in  the  last  generation,  became  so  frequently  a 
matter  of  court  record,  and  I  believe  that  to-day  there 
is  only  one  white  man  in  Hayti,  a  French  priest,  who 
has  seen  the  Voodoo  rites  carried  out  to  their  ghastly 
conclusion.  The  little  green  serpent,  the  ruling  spirit 
of  the  abject  Guinea  coast  sect,  is  often  worshipped 
and  the  feast  terminates  in  scenes  of  the  most  vile  de- 
bauchery, the  "  goat  without  horns,"  however,  not  al- 
ways being  sacrificed. 

The  cannibalistic  feed  is  only  indulged  in  on  rare 
occasions  and  at  long  intervals,  and  is  always  shrouded 
in  mystery  and  hedged  about  with  every  precaution 
against  interlopers ;  for,  be  their  African  ignorance  ever 


102        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

so  dense,  their  carnal  fury  ever  so  unbridled,  the  papa- 
lols  and  mamalois,  the  head  men  and  head  women  of 
the  serpent  worshippers  never  seem  to  forget  that  in 
these  vile  excesses  there  should  perhaps  be  found  excuse 
enough  for  the  interference  of  the  civilised  world  to 
save  the  people  of  the  Black  Republic  from  the  further 
degradation  which  awaits  them. 

Within  the  last  fifteen  years  human  victims  have  been 
sacrificed  to  the  great  god  Voodoo  In  the  national 
palace  of  Haytl.  Last  February  there  was  assembled 
in  the  national  palace  what  might  justly  be  called  a 
congress  of  serpent  worshippers.  During  the  life  of 
Mme.  Nord,  which  came  to  an  end  In  October,  1908, 
not  a  week  passed  but  what  a  meeting  of  the  Voodoo 
practitioners  was  held  In  the  executive  mansion,  and 
her  deathbed  was  surrounded  by  at  least  a  score  of  these 
witch  doctors. 

General  Antolne  Simon,  who  recently  achieved  the 
presidency,  may  be  the  Intelligent  man  he  is  represented 
to  be  by  not  a  few  white  residents  who  have  come  In 
close  contact  with  him  during  the  years  of  his  govern- 
ment of  the  southern  arrondissements  of  the  island. 
But  one  thing  is  quite  sure:  if  he  Vv'Ishes  to  remain  In 
the  Black  House  and  rule,  he  must  share  his  sovereignty 
with  the  Voodoo  priests.  If  he  should  exclude  them 
from  power  and  banish  them  from  his  presence,  his 
term  of  office  will  be  of  short  duration. 

There  is  generally,  in  fact  Invariably,  much  diver- 
sity of  opinion  In  Haytl  about  things  Haytian  and  a 
host  of  contradictory  counsellors,  but  upon  this  point 
there  Is  practical  unanimity.  No  government  can  stand 
In  Haytl  unless  It  is  upheld  by  the  Voodoo  priests  or 
by  foreign  bayonets.     At  least  two  governments  In  the 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  103 

last  fifty  years,  that  of  Geffrard  and  that  of  Boisrond- 
Canal,  have  tried  to  dispense  with  the  priestly  poison- 
ers of  men's  minds  and  bodies  without  at  the  same 
time  inviting  the  active  support  of  the  civilised  world, 
and  in  each  instance  these  governments  ended  in  dis- 
aster and  in  bloodshed  which  lasted  for  years. 

But  while  few,  if  any,  of  the  white  men  who  are  at 
present  residents  of  the  island  have  witnessed  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  "  goat  without  horns,"  it  is  the  easiest  thing 
in  the  world  to  assist  at  the  preliminaries  at  least  of  a 
Voodoo  feast.  While  my  two  visits  to  Hayti,  taken 
together,  do  not  cover  quite  a  month,  I  have  without 
great  difficulty  attended  Voodoo  feasts  in  town  and 
country,  in  the  open  air  under  the  moonlit  heavens,  and 
in  the  slums  of  the  capital  under  the  pallid  glare  of  the 
electric  light. 

The  place  of  meeting  in  the  country,  which  I  shall 
leave  indefinite  for  fear  of  bringing  a  fearful  punish- 
ment upon  my  guide  and  friend,  was  under  the  branches 
of  a  sandbox  or  prickly  sablier  tree  on  the  edge  of  a 
great  forest  and  only  about  two  miles  from  the  water- 
front of  a  considerable  commercial  port.  We  were 
guided  to  this  strange  rendezvous,  or  at  least  my  friend 
was,  for  I  found  the  sound  most  deceptive,  by  the 
noise  of  a  long  drum  of  wood  covered  at  either  end 
with  goatskins,  upon  which  the  drummers  play  without 
sticks,  but  with  the  fingers,  thumbs,  and  palms,  a  weird, 
monotonous  music,  which  once  heard  is  neither  to  be 
forgotten  nor  described. 

Now  and  again  the  drummer  or  some  dark  chorister 
who  stands  by  his  side  bursts  out  into  an  African 
song,  the  words  of  which,  I  believe,  no  one 
of   the   singers   or   listeners   understands.     But   upon 


104        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

each  and  every  one  of  them  the  music  and  the 
cabalistic  words  never  fail  to  exert  an  exciting  effect. 
To  me,  as  I  have  said,  the  surprising  thing  about  the 
drumming  was  its  deceptiveness.  Had  I  followed  the 
testimony  of  my  own  ears  I  should  have  gone  in  any 
direction  other  than  the  one  upon  which  the  guide  in- 
sisted, and  the  nearer  we  came  to  the  scene  of  the 
strange  religious  rendezvous  the  fainter  became  the 
sounds  of  the  weird  music. 

When  suddenly  the  light  of  the  great  fire,  around 
which  the  early  arrivals  were  already  gathered,  burst 
upon  my  view  I  had  quite  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  we  had  lost  our  way  and  would  have  to  retrace 
our  steps.  I  shall  make  no  effort  to  explain  this  miracle 
of  "  carry  "  and  of  acoustics,  but  merely  content  myself 
with  adding  my  testimony  to  that  of  many  others  who 
have  stated  that  you  can  hear  the  Voodoo  drum  quite 
plainly  when  you  are  five  miles  away,  and  can  scarcely 
hear  it  at  all  (I  certainly  could  not)  when  you  have 
reduced  the  intervening  distance  to  a  furlong. 

On  the  dark  side  of  the  glowing  fire  was  a  long,  low 
shack,  which  my  friend  entered  boldly.  At  the  far  end 
a  curtain  of  red  calico  was  drawn,  behind  which  we 
could  hear  the  moan  and  drone  of  strange  guttural 
voices. 

'*  The  papaloi  is  invoking  the  gods  of  his  father  in 
Congo  words  which  he  does  not  understand,"  said  my 
guide. 

As  my  eyes  grew  accustomed  to  the  dim  light  inside 
the  shack  I  saw  perched  and  tightly  hobbled  on  a  shelf 
by  the  curtain  of  flaming  hue  a  dozen  hens,  all  decked 
out  in  many-coloured  rags,  while  right  above  us, 
strapped  to  a  beam  which  ran  across  the  shack,  were 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  105 

two  goats,  clothed  fantastically  enough  In  human  gar- 
ments roughly  cut  down  to  fit  their  proportions. 

At  the  door  of  the  shack  were  several  puncheons  of 
country  rum,  from  which  the  new  arrivals  helped 
themselves  quite  liberally.  Then  a  man  and  a  woman, 
stark  naked,  dashed  out  of  the  shadow  of  the  forest, 
danced  several  times  around  the  fire,  and  then  again 
were  swallowed  up  in  the  darkness.  I  rubbed  my  eyes. 
For  a  moment  I  had  thought  to  disbelieve  them.  Then, 
suddenly,  I  felt  my  friend  tapping  at  my  sleeve.  As  I 
heard  him  say,  "  It  is  time  to  go.  Remember  your 
promise,"  I  glanced  about  me  and  found  that  from 
every  side  a  hundred  pair  of  eyes  were  riveted  upon 
us.  At  the  door  of  the  holy  of  holies,  the  tumbledown 
shack,  the  papa  king  was  peering  at  us  through  the 
darkness  with  his  red  handkerchief  pulled  down  over 
his  eyes  as  a  shield  and  protection  from  the  fitful  glare. 
"  It  is  time  to  go.  Remember  your  promise,"  re- 
peated my  friend,  and  then,  seeing  my  reluctance, 
added:  "  If  we  stay,  nothing  will  happen.  Only  I  will 
be  a  ruined  man.  You,  by  leaving  Hayti,  could  escape, 
perhaps,  but  my  life  would  not  be  worth  a  gourde's 
purchase." 

I  followed  him  as  he  led  the  way  across  the  firelit 
circle  into  the  shade  of  the  forest.  Here  we  untethered 
our  ponies  and  rode  away  through  the  darkness  and 
silence.  When  we  separated  for  the  night  in  the  great 
square  of  a  port  which  is  not  fourteen  hundred  miles 
from  Manhattan  Island  the  Voodoo  drums  were  still 
being  beaten  furiously  and  the  flames  of  the  great  fire 
were  leaping  skyward.  It  was  hard  to  read  even  the 
fresh  batch  of  New  York  papers  which  I  found  on  the 
club  table  that  night,   and  early  in  the  morning,  un- 


io6        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hampered  by  my  friend,  who  had  given  so  many  hos- 
tages to  Hayti,  I  rode  out  again  to  the  Voodoo  ren- 
dezvous. 

The  great  shack  was  empty,  and  even  the  flaming 
curtain  was  gone.  The  fire  still  smouldered,  and  in 
it  burned,  with  a  strange  fleshy  odour,  the  bones  of 
the  fowls  and  the  goats  which  had  furnished 
the  basis  of  the  banquet  of  the  night  before.  The 
whole  locality  was  strangely  deserted,  and,  as  it  seemed 
to  me,  shunned  by  those  who  a  few  hours  before  had 
hastened  hither  to  the  sound  of  the  Voodoo  drum. 
Here  and  there,  however,  in  the  corners  of  the  prickly 
hedges  that  abounded,  lay  groups  of  sleeping  men  and 
women,  in  whom  I  thought  to  recognise  the  serpent 
worshippers  who  had  resented  our  intrusion. 

Heavy  clouds  rolled  now  across  the  burning  sun,  a 
sharp,  tropical  rain  began  to  fall,  cutting  short  my  in- 
vestigation, but  as  I  galloped  back  to  the  town  I  saw 
that  none  of  the  sleepers  moved.  They  still  lay  like 
logs  by  the  side  of  the  penguin  hedges,  where  they  had 
dropped  when  the  religious  orgy  of  the  night  before 
was  stopped  by  the  coming  of  the  light  of  day. 

While,  of  course,  it  is  in  the  mountains  and  far 
from  the  coast  that  the  Voodoo  practitioners  exercise 
their  most  unrestricted  power,  they  are  nevertheless 
much  to  be  feared  even  in  the  capital.  Here,  should 
their  charms  fail  to  work,  as  they  sometimes  do,  the 
resources  of  the  Guinea  coast  civilisation  are  by  no 
means  exhausted.  A  little  ground  glass  sifted  into  a 
dish  of  rice,  a  vegetable  poison  in  the  water-bottle,  and 
the  scoffer  and  unbeliever  meets  his  fate.  If,  as  rarely 
happens,  these  methods  fail,  there  is  always  the  bravo 
on  hand  to  serve  the  prophet  or  the  prophetess,  and  a 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  107 

knife-stroke  in  the  dark  is  as  effective  a  weapon,  and  one 
that  hardly  calls  for  more  adverse  criticism  than  the 
poisoned  potion  and  its  neat  and  expeditious  results. 

I  should  say  from  my  limited  experience  that 
there  is  less,  considerably  less,  real  superstitious  belief 
among  the  Voodooists  of  the  capital  than  among  the 
simpler  country  folk.  In  Port-au-Prince,  indeed,  the 
adherents  of  the  ancient  Congo  creed  pass  for  being 
simply  an  excellently  well  organised  band  of  thugs  with- 
out any  of  the  sincerity  and  the  real  convictions  which 
sometimes  undoubtedly  urge  the  country  folk  on  to 
their  most  hideous  crimes. 

There  is  in  the  capital  a  standing  committee  of  the 
Voodoo  priests,  who  have  a  central  meeting-place 
where  they  assemble  from  time  to  time  for  serpent  wor- 
ship and  to  discuss  their  attitude  toward  the  govern- 
ment and  any  proposed  legislation  of  the  day.  They 
are,  of  course,  the  most  bitter  opponents  of  schools, 
and  to  their  opposition  is  due  in  large  measure  the  fact 
that  so  little  money  is  voted  in  Haytl  for  educational 
purposes. 

Until  quite  recently  the  meeting-place  of  this  com- 
mittee was  as  well  known  as  that  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies  or  the  executive  mansion.  For  some  reason, 
however,  this  building  has  been  deserted  and  their  new 
meeting-place  was  not  known  to  any  of  my  friends. 
The  whole  matter  was  not  clear,  and  in  view  of  the 
development  of  the  political  situation  did  not  attract 
much  attention.  I  regretted  it,  however,  because,  as  a 
result,  my  view  of  the  Voodoo  practitioners  of  the  cap- 
ital was  confined  to  meetings  in  the  lowest  slums,  which 
were  attended  only  by  men  and  women  of  apparently 
the  lowest  classes. 


io8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Again,  through  the  darkness  of  the  unlighted  streets, 
we  followed  the  sound  of  the  Voodoo  drum.  There 
were  sailors'  boarding-houses  and  low  dance-halls,  with 
their  discord-dealing  music,  all  about  us,  but  the  sound 
of  the  Voodoo  drum  overwhelmed  all  other  noises. 
Men  left  the  drinking-booths  and  the  dancing-dives 
and  followed  the  sound  of  the  insistent  drum.  As  we 
came  nearer  and  the  call  of  the  drum  grew  softer  and 
seemed  more  distant,  we  were  hailed  by  sentries,  who 
seemed  to  be  soldiers  of  the  regular,  or  rather  irregular, 
army  of  the  republic.  Some  one  satisfied  them  with  an 
answer,  and  we  hurried  on  through  the  narrow  lane 
filled  with  rubbish  and  stagnant  pools. 

A  few  steps  more  brought  us  to  our  goal — a  deserted 
warehouse,  into  which  the  procession  poured.  Half  a 
dozen  burly  negroes  were  on  guard  at  the  gate,  and 
two  of  these  at  least  wore  the  uniforms  of  the  troops 
I  had  seen  that  morning  on  guard  at  the  palace. 
They  were  each  armed  with  a  heavy  "  monkey  "  palm 
club,  but  no  objection  was  made  to  the  blank  and  his 
companion,  and  I  passed  in.  The  place  was  crowded 
with  black  humanity,  and  was  lit  only  by  two  flickering 
candles.  At  one  end  was  a  raised  dais,  and  upon  this 
was  placed  a  square  box  with  small  auger-holes  bored 
through  one  side.  This  was  the  cage  of  the  serpent, 
but  whether  the  light  was  at  fault  or  the  serpent  was 
not  there,  I  confess  I  never  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
little  green  monster  to  whom  the  Haytians  pray. 

The  drums  resounded  through  the  place  and  the 
black  stream  poured  continually  in.  We  were  all  as 
snug  as  a  bullet  in  a  mould,  when  suddenly  the  siding 
of  the  warehouse  against  which  I  leaned  gave  way, 
and  a  stream  of  fresh  air  poured  in,  which  I  confess 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO     109 

on  the  moment  I  valued  higher  than  a  king's  ransom. 
When  I  turned  away  from  the  life-giving  stream  and 
once  again  faced  the  music  as  it  were,  a  short,  middle- 
aged  woman  was  standing  on  the  serpent  box.  Her 
shoulders,  great  masses  of  wrinkled  flesh,  were  bare, 
and  her  great  oxlike  eyes  rolled  about  in  an  ecstasy 
that  seemed  doped.  Crouching  at  her  feet  by  the 
serpent  box  were  two  men,  who  I  understood  this  night 
were  to  be  admitted  as  full  members  of  the  fellowship. 

The  woman  ambled  about  for  several  minutes  on  the 
box,  then  drawing  a  whip  of  leather  from  her  gown, 
she  switched  the  crouching  figures  soundly,  dropped  off 
the  box,  and  disappeared  in  the  shadows  of  the  stage. 
The  drums  were  beaten  for  a  moment  now,  and  then 
another  woman,  equally  aged  and  equally  ill-favoured, 
sprang  upon  the  serpent  box.  For  five  minutes  she  stood 
stock-still,  and  then  began  to  hum  a  melody  which  re- 
called to  me,  though  distantly,  a  dance  song  I  had 
heard  years  ago  in  Morocco  City. 

Soon  the  middle-aged  priestess  was  performing  a 
regulation  danse  de  ventre,  and  the  crouching  men  be- 
side the  serpent  box  hid  their  faces  on  the  floor  and 
moaned.  The  audience,  perspiring  and  catching  for 
breath,  took  up  the  sensuous  refrain,  and  just  as  the 
group  of  worshippers  near  me  hit  a  higher  note  than 
usual  we  expanded,  with  the  result  that  two  more  boards 
of  the  siding  shifted  and  more  blessed  air  rushed  in. 
Soon  the  dancer  fell  back  exhausted,  and  the  drums 
filled  in  the  pause  with  a  monotonous  chant,  in  which 
many  of  the  audience  joined. 

Suddenly  the  first  priestess  sprang  out  of  the  shadow 
land  and  reappeared  upon  the  serpent  box.  In  one  hand 
she  clutched  a  gamecock,  in  the  other  a  knife.     Her 


no        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hand  was  about  the  cock's  throat,  and  his  eyes  were 
glazed  and  steadfast.  She  stood  still  for  a  moment  on 
the  serpent  box,  and  then  suddenly  began  to  spring 
about  and  up  and  down  convulsively,  as  a  man  might  do 
coming  in  contact  with  an  electric  wire  heavily  charged. 
In  a  flash  we  saw  that  the  cock  was  bleeding  and  the 
woman's  mouth  filled  with  feathers.  Then  she  brand- 
ished the  cock  aloft,  and  it  was  headless.  She  opened 
her  mouth,  and  for  a  moment  drank  the  warm 
blood  that  poured  from  the  severed  arteries;  then 
stooped  down  and  smeared  the  faces  of  the  crowding 
men  with  what  still  oozed  of  the  gory  stream. 

"  I'm  afraid  I'm  all  in,"  said  my  companion,  and  I 
saw  that  his  face  was  a  ghastly  green.  All  about  us 
the  people  were  pressing  forward,  apparently  to  be 
srheared  with  the  blood,  and  I  pushed  the  loosened 
siding  back,  and,  one  after  the  other,  we  stumbled  out- 
side and  fell  into  an  open  drain,  which,  however,  seemed 
cleaner  and  more  wholesome  than  the  place  we  had  left. 
Fresh  air  quickly  revived  my  friend,  and  soon  we  were 
walking  away  from  the  disgusting  assembly.  As  I  went 
I  could  see  what  I  had  only  suspected  before,  that  the 
serpent  worshippers  and  drinkers  of  warm  blood  were 
being  guarded  from  intrusion  by  a  body  of  Haytian 
soldiery. 

There  is  only  one  thing  to  be  said  in  favour  of  the 
Voodoo  practitioners,  and  in  fairness  I  think  I  should 
say  it.  They  do  not  kill  all  the  people  they  are  reported 
to  kill,  though  the  toll  of  their  victims  is  heavy  enough. 
The  Haytian  peasant  knows  more  about  medicine  than 
most  people,  whether  of  his  class  of  life  or  higher.  In 
his  garden,  for  instance,  or  against  his  palm  shack  he 
always  grows  a  vine,  ten  leaves  of  which,  when  boiled 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  in 

down  Into  a  brew,  can  stop  a  fever — at  least  such  has 
been  my  experience — more  quickly  than  quinine,  but  in 
one  thing  he  is  deficient.  He  does  not  recognise  that 
Death,  the  Black  Horseman,  sometimes  strikes  swiftly, 
and  to  him  a  sudden  death  is  an  unnatural  one.  If  a 
man  falls  stricken  with  apoplexy  or  with  heart  disease 
they  cry  out,  "  Here  is  witchcraft,"  and  wonder  who 
it  was  that  performed  the  wizard  trick  and  who  got 
him  to  do  it  and  how  much  he  was  paid  for  it.  But 
with  these  exceptions  made,  the  witch  doctors  deserve 
the  evil  repute  which  is  given  them,  if  only  in  whispers, 
by  their  own  people. 

To-day  secret  poisoning  pervades  the  scheme  of  Hay- 
tian  life,  high  as  well  as  low,  and  there  will  be  no 
relief  from  it  so  long  as  the  superstitious  blacks  in 
office  cringe  to  the  power  which  the  poisoner  wields. 
These  men,  with  their  mysterious  charms  and  their 
dreadful  secrets,  for  it  lies  within  their  choice  to  kill 
their  victims  or  rob  them  of  their  reason,  terrorise  every 
community  in  the  island  and  have  at  their  beck  and  call 
presidents  and  ministers,  senators  and  generals,  as  well 
as  soldiers  and  muleteers. 

Little  or  no  attempt  is  made  to  conceal  the  exercise  of 
this  frightful  power,  which  only  out  of  courtesy  can 
be  called  occult.  A  general  gives  an  order  or  a  judge 
renders  a  decision  which  Is  not  pleasing  to  the  poison- 
ers, and  whether  he  dies  suddenly  or  after  long,  ex- 
cruciating agony  every  one  understands  what  has  hap- 
pened, and  most  often  profits  by  these  blood-curdling 
examples.  Quite  as  often  as  not  the  poisoners  do  not 
go  so  far,  not  at  once.  Their  contemplated  victim 
awakens  some  morning  with  a  strange  fever  which  pre- 
vails against  all  the  homely  remedies  of  the  orthodox 


112        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

doctors.    Then  a  Voodoo  practitioner  is  called  in  and 
a  conference  is  held. 

Sometimes,  it  is  reported,  they  speak  out  openly  and 
say  what  they  want  and  what  they  mean  to  have  with 
the  brutal  frankness  of  the  Boss  of  a  pivotal  State. 
But  more  often  than  not  they  clothe  their  thought  in 
tropical  verbiage.  They  hint  that  Mr.  So-and-So  has 
an  evil  eye  and  should  be  removed;  that  such  and 
such  a  decision  is  displeasing  to  the  powers  of  dark- 
ness, who  doubtless  in  revenge  have  imposed  the  penalty 
of  the  sickness  from  which  the  victim  suffers.  When  in 
a  trice,  his  eyes  opened  to  the  great  danger  which  he 
runs,  the  general  or  the  judge  reverses  himself,  he 
recovers  immediately,  and  the  power  of  the  Voodoo 
prophets  and  poisoners  is  trumpeted  throughout  the 
land. 

I  have  written  at  great  length  upon  Voodoo  rites  and 
Obeah  practices  as  observed  by  me  in  Hayti,  where 
they  are  part  of  the  public  life  of  the  people,  yet,  un- 
fortunately, it  cannot  be  denied  that  these  reactionary 
tendencies  are  noticeable  among  the  blacks  of  Cuba  and 
of  Jamaica  in  a  degree  which  is  only  a  little  less  marked. 
In  Cuba  to-day  a  score  of  negroes  are  being  tried  for 
child-murder  in  connection  with  African  rites.  While 
in  the  interior  of  Jamaica  I  had  many  conversations  with 
the  English  officers  who  command  the  insular  con- 
stabulary. They  were  men  who  had  spent  their  lives 
on  the  island,  and  I  found  that  without  a  single  ex- 
ception they  are  of  the  opinion  that  if  the  supervision 
and  control  of  the  constabulary  were  withdrawn,  as  is 
sometimes  proposed,  the  rural  and  the  mountain  negro 
of  Jamaica  would  shortly  relapse  into  the  barbarism  of 
the  Guinea  coast  and  fall  into  the  practices  of  his  Hay- 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  113 

tian  cousin  across  the  Windward  Channel.  It  Is  evident 
that  wherever  in  the  West  Indies  the  black  population  is 
largely  in  the  majority, — and  this  is  the  case  almost 
everywhere, — the  task  of  civilisation  has  only  been  half 
accomplished. 

Again,  in  reading  over  the  foregoing  pages  I  can  see 
how  I  have  invited  the  charge  of  having  laid  stress 
on  the  conditions  in  Hayti  which  are  intolerable,  and 
of  having  touched  lightly.  If  at  all,  upon  such  virtues 
as  the  Haytlans  possess.  Here  I  would  put  In  a  word 
of  explanation  and  of  such  amends  as  may  be  fitting. 
Undoubtedly  the  Haytlans  have  many  admirable  quali- 
ties, but  it  seems  to  me  they  have  been  amply  dwelt 
upon  In  the  many  volumes  which  have  recently  appeared 
both  In  France  and  in  America,  and  which  were  gener- 
ally published  under  government  auspices.  These  books 
have  been  published  at  great  expense  to  the  practically 
bankrupt  government  of  the  island,  inspired  with  the 
purpose  of  glossing  over,  where  not  absolutely  denying, 
the  stories  of  Voodoo  rites  and  cannibalistic  practices, 
of  governmental  corruption  and  official  lawlessness 
which  have  brought,  and  deservedly  so,  the  name  of  the 
Black  Republic  into  such  ill-repute. 

Under  these  circumstances,  naturally,  I  have  sought 
to  supply  information  and  light  where  It  seemed  to  me 
most  needed.  Of  course,  I  recognise  the  fact  that  this 
Island  presents,  on  a  small  scale,  the  race  and  colour 
problem  which  will  not  down,  and  which  for  weal  or 
woe  Involves  the  world.  The  Haytlans,  like  all  peoples, 
only  perhaps  rather  more  so  than  any  other,  are  made  up 
of  a  bundle  of  contradictions.  They  Impressed  so  well- 
equipped  an  observer  as  Mr.  Hill  favourably,  and  he 
came  away  from  the  island  with  a  more  hopeful  view  of 


114        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

their  future  than  had  previously  been  expressed  by  any 
foreign  observer  whose  sincerity  was  beyond  question. 

It  is  undeniable  that  the  Haytian  mind,  when  taken 
in  hand  at  an  early  age,  is  quick  and  intellectual.  Hay- 
tian students  who  have  flocked,  for  the  past  generation, 
in  large  numbers  to  the  French  schools  and  universities 
where  the  colour  line  is  not  drawn  and  race  prejudices 
are  non-existent,  have  very  frequently  attained  high 
honours,  but  you  can  count  upon  the  fingers  of 
one  hand  these  honour-men  who,  upon  their  return  to 
their  home,  have  not  relapsed  to  the  degraded  condi- 
tions in  which  they  were  born,  Haytians  have  musical 
gifts,  artistic  talents,  and  a  literary  facility  which  is 
astonishing,  but — and  this  statement  I  think  cannot  be 
traversed — they  are  most  refractory  to  the  development 
of  anything  like  character. 

Incidents  of  personal  experience  are,  of  course,  often 
deceptive.  Certainly  great  value  should  not  be  at- 
tached to  them,  but  I  cannot  forbear  relating  the  fol- 
lowing experience  which,  to  my  mind,  is  typical  of  the 
situation.  We  lay  off  a  Haytian  port  awaiting  the 
health  officer.  When  he  came  he  was,  of  course,  as 
black  as  night.  He  was  attired  in  the  rustiest  of  frock- 
coats,  and  only  wore  one  shoe.  His  French,  however, 
was  most  delightful.  He  spoke  like  a  gentilhomme  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  when,  after  the  ship  had 
been  passed,  he  invited  three  of  us  to  go  ashore  with 
him  we  jumped  at  the  opportunity,  and  were  soon  en- 
sconced in  the  sternsheets  of  his  boat. 

We  could  see  that  the  captain  was  not  pleased  with 
our  haste,  but  his  displeasure  was  soon  forgotten  as 
we  were  rowed  away  to  the  shore,  listening  to  the 
learned   black   doctor   talking   microbes   and   bacteria.- 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  115 

One  of  our  company  was  an  English  doctor  who  had 
studied  with  Pasteur,  and  his  admiration  of  our  mentor 
was  as  enthusiastic  and,  of  course,  more  valuable  than 
mine.  After  handshakes  and  profuse  offers  of  service 
the  doctor  left  us  on  the  pier,  hastening  to  make  his 
report  upon  the  health  of  our  ship  to  the  higher  au- 
thorities, and  a  moment  later,  one  after  another,  we 
began  to  discover  that  we  had  been  robbed.  Our  cap- 
tain appeared  at  this  moment,  nearing  the  shore  in  his 
gig,  and  before  we  had  related  our  experience  he 
shouted,  "What  did  he  get  away  with?"  We  an- 
swered we  had  lost  a  watch,  and  two  small  purses. 
"  Well,"  said  the  captain,  "  he  did  better  the  last  time 
he  landed  passengers.  Then  he  got  away  with  three 
watches  and  four  pocketbooks.  He  let  you  fellows 
down  easily,  because  you  admired  his  French  so  much." 
The  population  of  the  port  towns  is  profligate,  de- 
graded, and  in  all  relations  with  the  whites  most  treacher- 
ous. The  relations  between  the  sexes  are  those  of  barn- 
yard fowls,  and  the  ravages  of  alcohol  are  everywhere 
apparent.  Neither  the  men  nor  the  women  can  be  in- 
duced to  work  with  any  regularity,  and  what  little  com- 
merce is  carried  on  would  be  impossible  but  for  the 
Jamaican  negroes,  who  come  to  the  Haytian  ports  in 
large  numbers  during  the  export  season.  The  Haytian 
woman,  however,  it  should  be  pointed  out,  is  almost 
invariably  superior  to  the  man.  If  there  is  a  shop,  or, 
indeed,  any  other  business  in  the  family,  she  invariably 
presides  over  it.  She  keeps  such  accounts  as  are  kept, 
and  she  is  the  custodian  of  the  money  that  comes  in. 
The  trade*  of  the  interior  is  almost  exclusively  in  the 
hands  of  women,  whom  one  meets  travelling  with  their 

*  statistics  of  commercial  and  mineral  resources  are  given  in 
Api^endix  B,  Note  IV,  page  411. 


ii6        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

packs  on  mule-  or  donkey-back  in  the  most  forbidding 
districts  of  the  island. 

The  religion  of  the  Haytians  is  nominally  Roman 
Catholic,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  the  priests  who  are 
brought  out  from  France  to  care  for  their  souls  do  not 
always  reflect  honour  either  upon  their  church  or  their 
race.  They  are  exclusively  dependent  for  their  liveli- 
hood upon  the  fees  which  they  extract  or  wheedle  from 
their  parishioners,  and,  of  course,  any  sturdy  attempt, — 
and  one  or  two  such  have  been  made, — to  stem  the 
African  relapse,  the  undeniable  tendency  of  the  Hay- 
tians for  the  last  fifty  years,  is  combated  with  a  boy- 
cott, and,  in  some  instances  at  least,  with  still  more 
criminal  weapons. 

On  one  occasion  I  profited  by  a  very  frank  talk  with 
one  of  these  parish  priests,  who  resided  not  ten  miles 
from  one  of  the  larger  ports.  He  admitted  that  many 
of  the  fathers  succumbed  to  the  relaxing  influences  and 
the  intolerable  ennui  of  their  situation.  Some,  he  con- 
fessed, were  leading  lives  but  Httle,  if  at  all,  superior  to 
those  of  the  Haytian  peasants. 

"  I  think,"  he  said  sadly,  "  that  the  failure  of  our 
mission  is  due  largely  to  the  hopelessness  of  our  task. 
There  is  not  a  quality  of  mind  or  of  soul  among  our 
parishioners  that  we  can  lay  an  uplifting  hand  upon. 
On  every  side  we  are  hemmed  in  by  a  world  of  sen- 
suality and  debauchery.  The  true  and  only  leaders  of 
this  unfortunate  people  are  the  scamps  who  profess 
Voodoo,  and  who  earn  their  bread  by  fostering  super- 
stition and  pandering  to  profligacy.  We  know  what  is 
going  on  in  this  island  more  fully  than  any  one  else,  for 
we  are  the  only  Europeans  who,  year  in  and  year  out, 
live  among  the  people.    We  do  not  make  a  public  outcry 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  117 

or  even  aid  anonymous  revelations.  It  has  been  deemed 
by  our  authorities  best  that  we  should  not.  We  remain 
on  guard  watching  and  waiting,  and  at  times  we  cer- 
tainly are  able  to  exercise  a  restraining  influence  without 
awakening  a  race  hatred  and  a  religious  animosity 
which  could  only  end  in  one  way." 

It  is  a  forlorn  and  fugitive  existence  which  the  Hay- 
tian  peasants  of  the  accessible  interior  lead.  They  are 
constantly  harassed  by  the  tax  collectors  and  by  roving 
bands  of  soldiers  who  may,  or  may  not,  have  some  war- 
rant of  authority  from  the  general  d'arrondissement. 
The  coffee-patches  which  these  unfortunate  people  cul- 
tivate in  a  surreptitious  way  are  hidden  away  in  some 
forest  glade  or  clearing,  as  are  the  fruit  trees  and  the 
vegetable  gardens  from  which  they  draw  their  means 
of  subsistence.  Nevertheless  when  their  race  conscious- 
ness and  their  religious  superstitions  lie  dormant,  these 
people  are  kindly  disposed  to  strangers.  I  must  place  to 
the  credit  side  of  their  ledger  the  statement  of  an 
American  schooner  captain  I  met  in  Cape  Hayti.  "  I 
have  been  wrecked  on  all  these  islands,"  he  said;  "  upon 
most  of  them  I  have  been  cast  up  literally  naked  at 
least  once  by  the  sea,  and  I'll  tell  you  the  black  Hay- 
tians,  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  a  general  or  a  govern- 
ment centre,  are  the  whitest  people  of  the  whole  lot." 

In  December,  1908,  General  Nord  was  expelled  and 
General  Simon  came  into  power  in  the  conventional 
revolutionary  way.  Nord  was  ninety  years  of  age 
and  within  four  months  of  the  end  of  his  presidential 
term.  After  the  death  of  his  remarkable  wife  the  aged 
guerrilla  warrior  wished  to  retire,  but  he  also  wished  to 
reserve  to  himself  the  appointment  of  his  successor. 
This  plan  was  upset  by  the  revolutionary  movement  led 


ii8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

by  General  Simon,  who  had  ruled  Les  Cayes,  a  province 
on  the  southern  coast,  for  some  years.  Simon's  revolu- 
tionary campaign  was  undoubtedly  financed  by  a  group 
of  European  merchants  to  whose  money-making  proj- 
ects General  Nord  had  shown  himself  opposed. 

Under  the  guns  of  our  fleet  and  the  restraining  influ- 
ences of  Captain  John  Hood  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Tacoma, 
who  knows  the  Haytian  situation  well,  the  presidential 
transfer  was  effected,  not  without  bloodshed  it  is  true, 
but  with  fewer  scenes  of  savagery  than  usual. 

Simon  is  half  the  age  of  his  predecessor  and  is, 
superficially  at  least,  nearer  civilisation.  Still  he  be- 
longs to  the  banditti  horde,  composed  of  about  six 
thousand  generals  and  some  four  thousand  privates, 
who  have  misruled  the  Black  Republic  so  long  for 
their  personal  profit.  It  cannot  truthfully  be  said  that 
his  methods  of  government  differ  one  iota  from  those 
of  his  predecessor.  Again  Simon  is  a  southern  man, 
and  the  northern  Haytians  have  always  proved  them- 
selves to  be  the  better  fighters  and  the  better  politicians. 
There  are  already  visible  indications  of  an  approaching 
uprising  in  the  north,  and  the  one  fact  in  the  situation 
which  makes  for  stability  is  curiously  enough  the  al- 
leged indiscretion  of  President  Roosevelt,  contained  in 
his  letter  to  Sir  Harry  Johnston,  the  well-known  Afri- 
can explorer  and  British  official,  who  was  making  a  hur- 
ried trip  through  the  West  Indies.  According  to  the 
wording  of  this  letter  as  it  reached  the  press,  for  which 
it  was  never  intended,  the  President  expressed  the  per- 
sonal opinion  that  we  should  intervene  in  Hayti  in  the 
name  of  civilisation  and  of  decency.  He  asserted  that  he 
had  only  refrained  from  so  doing  because  his  constitu- 
tional advisers  and  a  great  majority  of  the  senators, 


-a 

G 


U 


THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VOODOO  119 

particularly  the  New  England  men,  could  not  be  made 
to  see  either  the  necessity  or  the  desirability  of  inter- 
vention. 

The  news  of  this  indiscretion  ran  like  wildfire  through 
the  official — that  is,  the  banditti — circles  of  Hayti,  and 
gave  much  food  for  bitter  reflection.  The  great  mass  of 
the  people  of  the  island  are  obviously  quite  indifferent 
to  intervention  or  even  annexation  by  the  United  States. 
They  have  not  the  vaguest  idea  of  the  meaning  of  these 
words,  much  less  of  the  political  and  social  changes  which 
they  imply,  but  the  banditti  generals  have.  For  them 
this  policy  which  President  Roosevelt  stamped  with  his 
personal,  if  not  official,  approval  means  work  and  not 
offices  for  them,  the  robber  generals  and  their  rapacious 
followers,  and  to-day  the  most  powerful  influence,  if  not 
for  law  and  order,  at  least  for  the  preservation  of  pub- 
lic peace  in  the  island,  is  the  words  of  our  ex-President, 
which  only  reached  the  public  through  an  indiscretion. 

We  left  the  capital  of  Hayti  on  the  eve  of  Mardi 
Gras.  It  was  only  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  but 
the  dust-laden  winds  covered  the  city  with  a  mantle  of 
darkest  night.  Fireworks  and  the  volleys  of  Roman 
candles  filled  the  air  with  intermittent  flashes  of  light 
and  our  ears  with  a  carnival  of  drum-splitting  sound. 
Our  guide  excused  himself  from  the  journey  to  the 
landing-quay,  for,  as  he  explained,  in  the  volleys  of 
blank  cartridges  a  ball  cartridge  is  sometimes  allowed 
to  slip  in  by  accident  or  design.  The  streets  were 
thronged  with  men  and  women,  whose  carnival  dis- 
guises consisted  almost  exclusively  of  smears  of  white 
paint  across  their  black,  shining  faces.  Dancing  booths 
filled  the  streets  and  in  and  out  of  them  we  saw  im- 
provised  scenes  of   debauchery   and   of  shamelessness 


I20        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  the  Court  of  Dahomey  and  the  dens  of  Port  Said 
could  not  parallel,  and  it  was  all  taking  place  within 
three  days'  easy  sailing  of  our  shores. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written  General  Simon  has 
been  expelled,  and  General  Le  Conte  has  taken  his 
place,  and  General  Firmin,  the  hope  of  the  best  element 
in  Hayti,  has  died.  The  unfortunate  island  is  as  ever 
in  the  throes  of  chronic  revolution,  and  the  banditti 
generals  divide  the  meagre  spoils,  while  commerce 
languishes  and  law  and  order  are  unknown. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Santo  Domingo — Our  Financial  Protege 

The  coast  line  of  that  eastern  portion  of  the  Island 
of  HIspanlola,  most  unfavourably  known  In  the  Carib- 
bean world  as  the  reef-bound  frontiers  of  the  Dominican 
Republic,  Is  by  no  means  as  impressively  beautiful  as 
the  highland  shores  of  Haytl  to  the  west.  Some  of  the 
interior  views,  the  stretches  of  hardwood  forests  and  the 
wonderful  river  reaches  enlivened  by  the  presence  of 
the  graceful  egret  bird,  however,  reminded  me  of  scenes 
in  Java  and  Sumatra  and  Ceylon.  Certain  it  Is  that  no- 
where can  the  peculiar  beauties  of  the  tropical  world 
be  seen  to  better  advantage.  Once  the  respect  for  life 
and  property,  which  at  present  Is  lacking  in  a  small  but 
powerful  fraction  of  the  population,  has  been  Instilled 
into  their  minds;  once  a  greater  security  and  a  little  in- 
centive to  endeavour  is  given,  the  Dominican  Republic 
cannot  fail  to  become  one  of  the  most  wealthy  of  tropical 
countries.* 

The  recent  history  of  the  Dominican  Republic  Is  a 
sordid  story  of  bloodshed,  rapine,  and  corruption.  Its 
population  is  perhaps  600,000,  though  no  census  that 
inspires  confidence  has  ever  been  taken.  There  are  many 
families  In  the  country  In  whose  veins  flows  the  best 
blood  of  Spain  and  of  France,  but  the  mulattoes  and 

♦A  fuller  description  of  the  geographical  situation  of  the  Domin- 
ican Republic  and  its  agricultural  and  mineral  resources  is  given  in 
Appendix  C,  Notes  II,  III,  and  IV,  pages  418—424. 

121 


122        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  blacks,  taken  together,  are  numerically  superior. 
During  the  reign  of  the  infamous  dictator,  Ulysse 
Heureaux,  race  animosity  ran  high,  and,  as  in  Hayti, 
many  hundreds  of  people  were  butchered  simply  be- 
cause they  had  white  skins.  In  view  of  these  internal 
conditions  and  in  appreciation  of  the  fact  that  we  needed 
a  West  Indian  naval  station.  President  Grant  sought, 
with  great  determination  and  foresight,  in  1870,  to 
bring  about  the  annexation  of  the  republic  to  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  event  to  declare  some  form  of  pro- 
tectorate. It  is  impossible  to  estimate  what  would  have 
been  the  effect  of  this  step,  had  it  been  carried  out  at  the 
time.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  unhappy  islanders 
would  have  been  spared  that  miserable  sequence  of  revo- 
lution and  anarchy,  now  and  again  interrupted  by  ruth- 
less and  blood-stained  dictatorships,  which  has  been 
their  lot  ever  since. 

From  1 87 1  to  1882  Cabral,  Baez,  Gonzales,  and 
Luperon  alternated  in  control,  each,  as  he  disappeared 
from  the  scene,  leaving  his  people  deeper  in  the  abyss  of 
economic  ruin  and  lower  in  the  scale  of  social  demoral- 
isation. In  1882  Ulysse  Heureaux  came  to  the  fore 
and  the  story  of  the  next  seventeen  years  is  that  of 
his  uncontrolled  dominance.  It  was  an  era  of  merciless 
terrorism  and  dictatorial  lawlessness,  and  the  resources 
of  the  country  were  squandered  by  prodigal  commissions 
and  in  the  reckless  contracting  of  debts  which  served 
no  purpose  except  to  provoke  international  complica- 
tions. As  was  natural,  after  the  assassination  of  the 
dictator  in  1899  (the  credit  for  this  good  action  is  gen- 
erally given  to,  though  not  claimed  by,  the  present  con- 
stitutional President  of  the  country.  General  Caceres), 
things  grew  no  better.     Five  men,  one  after  another, 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         123 

succeeded  each  other  In  rapid  succession  in  the  presi- 
dential chair,  and  the  resulting  situation  was  well  de- 
scribed by  Professor  Hollander  of  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, who  has  twice  visited  the  island  on  missions 
entrusted  to  him  by  the  State  Department. 

"  The  ordinary  crimes  of  the  political  decalogue 
became  commonplace,  the  country  was  laid  waste,  the 
people  crushed  to  hopelessness,  the  treasury  left  to  stew 
in  utter  bankruptcy,  and  a  host  of  creditors — foreign 
and  domestic — after  tightening  their  hold  upon  the  fu- 
ture, became  more  and  more  insistent  in  the  present." 

This  anarchic  system  of  government,  which  until  re- 
cently prevailed,  was  of  such  a  simple  character  that  I 
am  tempted  to  describe  it.  Here  were  none  of  the 
complexities  to  be  met  with  in  other  Latin-American 
countries.  Here  the  policy  of  to  the  victor  belong 
the  spoils  was  enforced  In  the  crudest  manner  possible. 
It  was,  as  one  American  observer,  who  for  many  years 
had  watched  the  civic  commotions  of  the  country,  re- 
marked to  me,  "  a  plain  open  and  shut  game."  Revo- 
lutionary practices  had  become  as  deeply  ingrained  with 
the  Dominicans  as  electioneering  campaigns  with  us,  and 
that  they  should  have  been  so  suddenly  turned  from 
their  bloodthirsty  and  costly  pursuits  is  a  miracle  in 
which  as  yet  many,  who  know  the  land  and  the  people, 
refuse  to  believe. 

The  changes  of  government  came  about  at  frequent 
and  unstated  intervals  in  this  wise:  A  dictator,  or 
supreme  chief,  is  in  power,  having  been  Installed  by 
the  usual — I  might  say  the  Inevitable — agents  and  the 
usual  machinery,  say  a  half-dozen  feverish  and  fluent 
talkers,  the  conviilsivos  who  are  responsible  for  so  much 


124        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

that  is  evil  in  Latin-American  politics,  with  a  few 
score  barefooted  or  straw-sandalled  followers,  and 
last  but  by  no  means  least  the  Patron,  generally  a 
man  of  finance,  often  a  foreigner  and  not  Infrequently, 
I  regret  to  say,  an  American.  Immediately  this  man  is 
installed,  the  Patron  of  the  revolution,  if  a  broad- 
gauged  man,  accustomed  to  the  handling  of  all  kinds  of 
money,  would  Immediately  recoup  himself  for  his  ex- 
penditures by  floating  a  loan  In  some  foreign  country 
on  terms  exceedingly  favourable  to  himself  and  corre- 
spondingly disadvantageous  to  the  ultimate  tax-payers, 
in  the  last  analysis  the  victims  of  the  foreign  bondhold- 
ers. If  the  Patron  was  a  small  man,  he  would  secure 
repayment  of  money  advanced  and  about  ten  thousand 
per  cent,  increase  by  simpler  methods.  The  Dictator 
would  give  him  free  entry  to  all  his  importations,  and 
in  a  very  few  weeks  he  would  control  the  trade  of  the 
country  and  monopolise  its  resources.  Of  course,  such 
a  state  of  affairs  was  as  unpleasant  to  the  other  men  of 
business  enterprise  in  the  country  as  it  was  profitable  to 
the  Patron,  and  they  were  generally  not  slow  in  setting 
the  wheel  of  fortune  In  motion  for  another  turn;  a  new 
supreme  chief,  willing  to  save  the  country  for  a  con- 
sideration, is  sought  for;  the  convulsive  orators,  the 
barefooted  bandits,  are  not  difficult  to  find ;  and  then  the 
business  man,  tired  of  the  meagre  return  of  orthodox 
business  operations  and  ready  for  a  revolutionary  specu- 
lation. Soon  the  revolution  is  in  full  swing,  the  ban- 
ners under  which  the  battles  are  fought  bear  high- 
sounding  legends  and  lofty  devices,  but  under  them 
every  law  of  humanity  and  of  a  civilised  war  code  is 
outraged;  "  all  guarantees  are  withdrawn  "  is  the  phrase 
with  which  the  era  of  murder,  slaughter,  and  rapine  is 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         125 

inaugurated.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was  natural 
that  gradually  the  custom-house,  the  source  of  gov- 
ernmental wealth  in  the  country,  should  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  root  of  all  evil.  In  anticipation  of  its 
illegal  favours,  speculators  advanced  the  sums  strictly 
necessary,  and  out  of  the  proceeds  of  the  same  customs 
the  successful  revolutionists  were  repaid,  not  only  in 
cash  and  by  favourable  appraisement,  but  by  the  dis- 
turbance of  every  other  stable  business  interest  in  the 
country. 

This  revolutionary  see-saw  continued  until  the  coun- 
try was  bled  white  and  practically  all  trace  of  trade  and 
industry  had  disappeared.  There  was  no  money  to 
carry  on  the  government,  and  the  demoralised  customs 
service  did  not  supply  sufficient  funds  to  pay  the  interest 
on  the  foreign  loans,  which  amounted,  on  face  value 
at  least,  to  thirty-five  million  dollars.  Of  this  sum  it  is 
estimated,  I  believe  conservatively,  not  thirty  per  cent. 
ever  reached  the  island,  and  that  less  than  ten  per  cent, 
was  expended  on  public  works.  As  the  outlook  became 
more  hopeless  and  the  defaults  on  the  foreign  loans 
more  frequent,  the  bondholders  set  in  motion  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  collecting  warships.  In  seeing  to  it  that 
the  Dominicans  got  fair  play  and  that  not  an  acre  of 
*'  near  American  "  soil  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  hated 
European,  our  extra  naval  expenses  were,  it  is  esti- 
mated, about  a  million  a  year  for  many  successive  years. 

The  resulting  turmoil  was  about  to  become  the  normal 
state  of  affairs  in  Santo  Domingo,  when,  suddenly,  a 
bright  mind  hit  upon  a  solution  of  the  problem  in  its 
national  as  well  as  its  international  phases,  which  has 
lasted  five  years,  and  may  prove  even  more  durable. 
In  1907  the  good  offices  of  the  United  States,  which  had 


126        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

been  requisitioned  every  time  a  persistent  creditor  be- 
came bothersome,  were  requisitioned  now  once  and  for 
all.*  The  alleged  debt  was  subjected  to  a  close  scrutiny 
at  the  hands  of  an  expert  and  the  sum-total  of  the 
claims  was  cut  down  to  about  sixteen  millions,  and  an 
American  banking  house  was  found  willing  to  pay  off 
the  indebtedness  and  to  accept  bonds  for  the  money 
advanced,  gold  bonds  to  run  fifty  years  at  five  per  cent., 
to  be  secured  by  the  custom-houses  of  the  republic, 
with  the  proviso  that  the  collection  of  duties  is  to  re- 
main in  the  hands  of  Americans  until  the  whole  transac- 
tion has  been  satisfactorily  completed,  or  in  all  prob- 
ability for  a  period  of  fifty  years. f 

As  a  result  of  this  financial  stroke  public  life  in' 
the  Dominican  Republic  has  undergone  incredible 
changes.  With  the  custom-houses  under  the  protection 
of  the  United  States,  they  no  longer  cut  the  figure  which 
they  formerly  did  in  the  very  practical  politics  of  this 
tropical  republic,  and  the  incentive  to  revolution  would 
seem  to  have  gone  with  the  withdrawal  beyond  the 
clutch  of  the  revolutionists  of  its  most  practical  reward. 
There  have  occurred,  it  is  true,  one  or  two  sporadic 
uprisings  even  in  these  new  circumstances,  but  they  were 
quickly  suppressed  and  apparently  were  only  espoused 
by  a  mere  handful  of  country  people  who  were  as  yet 
not  cognisant  of  the  new  dispensation. 

The  Dominicans,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  profes- 
sional banditti  who  are  not  and  doubtless  never  will  be 

*The  text  of  the  convention  signed  by  the  United  States  and  the 
Dominican  Republic  in  February  of  this  year  is  given  in  Appendix 
C,  Note  I,  page  414. 

f  See  Hon.  Philander  Knox's  description  of  this  operation  and  its 
results  in  his  address  before  the  New  York  Bar  Association.  Appen- 
dix C,  Note  V,  page  425. 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         127 

reconciled,  seem  to  be  delighted  with  the  new  regime. 
They,  like  all  Latin-Americans,  are  only  too  anxious  to 
keep  the  Gringos  at  arm's  length,  and  this  feeling  will 
go  far  to  prevent  an  actual  default  on  the  bond  pay- 
ments, which  would,  of  course,  entail  a  closer  and  more 
active  intervention  on  our  part.  So  far,  greatly  to  the 
credit  of  the  Dominicans  themselves  and  of  the  Ameri- 
can officials  upon  whom  the  delicate  duty  has  devolved 
of  collecting  their  money  and  paying  their  debts  for 
them,  the  new  formula  has  worked  like  a  charm,  and 
the  money  turned  over  by  our  representatives  monthly, 
after  the  debt  charges  have  been  met,  is  greatly  in  ex- 
cess of  that  formerly  collected  by  the  Dominicans  them- 
selves before  any  provision  had  been  made  for  the  dis- 
charge of  the  debt. 

I  cannot  complete  this  picture  of  an  almost  idyllic 
result  by  saying  that  the  Dominicans  are  paying  off 
these  ancient  and  most  grievous  burdens  unconsciously. 
They  are  not.  The  import  duties  are  exceedingly  high, 
and  they  have  made  life  on  a  civilised  scale  far  more 
expensive  in  Santo  Domingo  than  it  is  in  any  of  the 
other  West  Indian  islands.  Of  course,  as  far  as  we  our- 
selves are  concerned,  this  new  step  in  the  development 
of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  of  the  most  vital  importance. 
After  years  of  hesitancy  we  would  seem  to  have  defi- 
nitely abandoned  the  dog  in  the  manger  policy  which, 
as  regards  the  Caribbean  islands,  was  undeniably  ours 
for  so  long.  We  still  prevent  the  powers,  who  in  the 
treatment  accorded  the  lives  or  the  property  of  their 
nationals  have  been  aggrieved,  from  forcibly  interven- 
ing, but  we  take  the  matter  in  hand  ourselves  and  the 
good  offices  which  we  formerly  proffered  with  many 
diplomatic  reserves  are  taking  a  practical  shape.     Of 


128        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

course,  the  outlook  is  not  without  clouds;  the  role  of 
the  "  honest  broker  "  is  a  peculiarly  difficult  one,  and  its 
harvest  of  gratitude  and  appreciation  is  light.  Our 
role  in  the  future  will  be  liable  to  misconstruction  and 
many  misunderstandings  will  arise.  In  some  of  the 
Caribbean  countries  the  conditions  are  similar  to  what 
they  were  in  Santo  Domingo,  and  in  many  quarters, 
sooner  or  later,  in  one  form  or  another,  intervention 
would  seem  to  be  inevitable.  If  the  terrain  is  carefully 
studied  and  the  advanced  preparations  made,  our  inter- 
vention cannot  fail  to  make  for  the  improvement  and 
the  development  of  this  part  of  the  world,  which  politi- 
cally has  been  so  unfortunate,  but  the  fact  should  not  be 
lost  sight  of  that  the  new  policy  necessarily  entails  upon 
us  greatly  increased  duties  and  responsibilities. 

General  Caceres,*  who,  unfortunately  for  me,  I  only 
saw  for  a  moment, — he  was  away  in  the  interior  during 
the  greater  part  of  my  stay  at  the  capital, — is  a  hard- 
riding  fighting  man  of  the  old  regime,  who,  however, 
has  had  the  intelligence  and  the  patriotism  to  try  to  ad- 
just himself  to  the  new  conditions,  and  he  has  been 
wonderfully  successful  in  so  doing.  He  has  fleshed  his 
machete  in  many  a  hard-fought  mountain  skirmish,  and 
now  he  addresses  himself  to  the  fiscal  problems  which 
vex  his  country  with  equal  vigour.  He  is  a  planter  and 
his  plantation  in  Moca  is  a  model  of  what  a  cocoa 
plantation  should  be.  He  tells  his  countrymen  to  leave 
politics  alone  and  plant  cocoa,  and  he  practises  what  he 
preaches  by  spending  a  great  deal  of  his  time  on  his 

*  Since  the  foregoing  was  written  General  Caceres  has  been  assas- 
sinated, and  but  for  the  grasp  which  the  United  States  authorities 
have  upon  the  custom-houses,  which  alone  furnish  the  sinews  of  war, 
another  backward  step  would  have  been  taken. 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         129 

plantation  far  from  the  executive  mansion.  His  con- 
stant, oft-repeated  message  to  his  people  Is  to  turn  their 
machetes  Into  pruning-hooks  until  they  shall  have  paid 
off  their  debts  and  can  look  the  whole  world  in  the 
face.  He  is  ready  and  willing  at  any  time  to  resign  the 
honours  and  the  responsibilities  of  his  position,  which  Is 
doubtless  the  reason  why  no  one  thinks  of  displacing 
him. 

Under  the  political  conditions  which  I  have  noted  it 
is  not  surprising  to  find  that  the  chapter  of  internal  im- 
provements in  the  Dominican  Republic  is  a  short  one. 
There  are  very  few  roads  suitable  for  wheeled  vehicles; 
indeed,  most  of  the  roads  are  merely  mule  trails  which 
are  allowed  to  take  care  of  themselves.  Travel  is  done 
mainly  on  pony-,  mule-,  or  donkey-back, — there  are  hardly 
any  real  horses  In  the  Island, — and  In  some  of  the 
rural  districts  bullocks  or  bueys  are  trained  to  serve  as 
mounts  for  women  and  children.  I  think  the  longest 
direct  road  in  the  island  connects  the  port  of  Monte 
Cristi  on  the  north  coast  with  Santiago  de  los  Cabal- 
leros  and  La  Vega  in  the  Interior.  This  road  follows 
mainly  the  course  of  the  great  Yaqui.  Out  of  the  capital 
city  radiate  several  roads,  or  rather  trails,  that  have  been 
in  use  for  four  hundred  years  without  change,  Improve- 
ment, or  repair.  Without  excepting  even  the  worst 
roads  In  China  or  in  Russia  or  even  in  these  United 
States,  there  Is  nothing  to  equal  the  mockery  of  these 
supposedly  connecting  links  between  cities  and  rural  dis- 
tricts in  the  Dominican  Republic. 

The  historic  trail  made  by  the  Spanish  conquerors  fol- 
lows the  southern  coast  westward  to  Bani,  Azua,  and 
Neyba.  Here  it  divides,  one  branch  going  to  Port-au- 
Prince   In  Haytl  and  another  into  the  valley  of  the 


130        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Yaqui  of  the  south.  This  last  section  is  a  raging  tor- 
rent during  the  rainy  season,  and  a  chain  or  succession 
of  stagnant  pools  interspersed  with  islands  of  mud  for 
many  months  afterwards. 

On  the  north  coast  of  this  beautiful  island  there  are 
scores  of  natural  harbours  undeveloped  and  uninhab- 
ited; many  of  them  are  surrounded  by  large  tracts  of 
fertile  lands  and  immense  forests  of  hardwood.  The 
climate  is  very  enjoyable  and  certainly  far  from  un- 
healthy. This  part  of  the  island  has  been  largely, 
though  not  wholly,  exempt  from  the  visitation  of  hur- 
ricanes and  earthquakes.  Hurricanes  will,  however,  of 
course  come  sometimes  and  then  down  go  the  standing 
crops.  However,  several  of  the  American  settlers  along 
the  north  coast  tell  me  that  in  their  experience  they  have 
found  the  hurricane  to  be  the  farmer's  friend  in  com- 
parison with  Jack  Frost  of  the  north. 

Santo  Domingo,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  republic 
on  the  south  coast,  is  a  walled  city  and  extremely  medi- 
aeval in  appearance.  The  only  other  city  of  its  kind  in 
the  American  world  that  I  can  recall  is  the  equally  pic- 
turesque and  historical  stronghold,  Cartagena,  the  last 
surviving  and  almost  Intact  citadel  of  the  Spanish  Main. 
Five  or  six  years  ago  the  circumvallatlon  of  Santo 
Domingo  was  perfect  and  the  gates  and  the  sentry- 
boxes  overhanging  the  sea  were,  apparently,  as  they 
had  been  left  by  the  hands  of  the  sixteenth-century 
builders.  As  in  Havana  and  Manila,  however,  the 
growing  population  has  burst  these  restraining  bonds 
and  on  the  land  side  of  Santo  Domingo  city  to-day  the 
mediaeval  wall  is  breached  in  many  places.  Here  is  a 
rich  field  for  antiquarians,  and  it  is  a  field  that  has  never 
been  investigated  by  modern  methods  of  scientific  re- 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         131 

search.  From  this  sleepy  town  sailed  Cortez  and  his 
Conquistadores  for  Cuba  and  Mexico;  Balboa  for  the 
discovery  of  the  Pacific,  and  Pizarro  for  the  conquest  of 
Peru.  Here  lived  Columbus  and  his  brothers,  ruling  the 
New  World  less  ejfiiciently  it  must  be  confessed  than 
they  did  their  ships  and  seamen,  and  to-day  the  charm- 
ing and  spiritual  archbishop  of  this  ancient  see  is  a  di- 
rect descendant  of  that  Bobadilla  who  succeeded  in 
power  to  Columbus  and  sent  the  great  navigator  back 
to  Spain  in  chains. 

Here  flourished  Las  Casas  and  Ponce  de  Leon,  the 
discoverer  of  Florida  and  the  conqueror  of  Porto  Rico. 
Of  this  little  dead  and  alive  city,  St.  Augustine  and 
Santa  Fe,  our  oldest  populations,  were  but  colonies  and 
offshoots.  You  can  still  wander  through  the  house  of 
Colon,  though  it  dates  rather  from  Don  Diego,  the  son, 
than  from  Christopher,  the  father.  But  you  must  walk 
circumspectly  and  not  jostle  against  the  walls,  some  of 
which  are  tottering  and  ready  to  fall.  To  this  spacious 
home  the  second  Columbus  brought  his  beautiful  and 
brilliant  bride,  a  Duchess  of  Toledo,  and  here  he  began 
his  career  as  viceroy  with  great  pomp  and  circumstance 
and  splendour.  Here  the  viceroy  so  entrenched  him- 
self with  cannon  behind  walls  of  stone  and  bulwarks  of 
adventurous  soldiers  that  the  king  at  home  became 
alarmed  for  his  own  pre-eminence.  When  the  bills  for 
these  massive  walls  and  fortifications  came  in,  for  there 
were  bills,  too,  even  in  these  spacious  days,  the  king  in 
his  palace  of  the  Escorial  strode  to  the  window  and 
looked  eagerly  westward. 

"  What  is  it.  Your  Majesty?  What  would  you  see?  " 
says  the  veracious  chronicler. 

"  Those  walls  are  so  high,  they  have  cost  me  so  much; 


132        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

I  thought  I  might  see  them  from  here,"  sighed  the 
monarch. 

The  glory  has  departed  from  the  house  of  Colon,  it 
is  without  a  roof  and  without  windows,  and  some  of  its 
walls,  which  were  built  for  eternity  rather  than  for  time, 
rock  in  every  strong  breeze  that  blows.  Goats  and 
donkeys,  stray  dogs  and  beach-combers  house  in  what 
was  once  the  throne-room  of  the  New  World's  King. 

One  of  the  most  ancient  of  the  landmarks  that  re- 
main in  the  city  is  the  church  and  convent  of  St. 
Nicholas.  I  say,  that  remain,  though  when  in  Novem- 
ber, 1908,  I  stood  before  its  leaning  walls  it  certainly 
was  in  a  most  parlous  state.  The  neighbours,  not  out 
of  appreciation  of  its  age  and  beauty  but  aware  that 
every  day  its  existence  was  a  menace  to  their  lives, 
had  employed  a  builder  to  restore  or  destroy  this  old 
place  of  worship  that  is  a  conscience  offering  to  God 
made  by  Ovando  the  viceroy  in  1509.  When  he  came 
to  die  this  flint-hearted  Castilian  at  last  remembered 
him  of  the  beautiful  and  gentle  Queen  Anacanoa,  whom 
he  had  murdered  in  cold  blood,  and  of  the  holocausts 
of  Indians  which  his  insatiable  thirst  for  gold  had  en- 
tailed. The  famous  groined  canopy  above  the  pres- 
bytery was  still  almost  intact  when  I  saw  it,  and  enjoys 
much  appreciation  among  the  Dominicans  of  all  classes. 
It  was  bought  in  Flanders  for  many  thousand  ducats 
and  was  wrought  by  the  most  famous  wood-carvers  in 
that  land. 

The  ancient  cathedral  is  a  more  imposing  than  pleas- 
ing edifice.  It  is  junior  to  St.  Nicholas  and  several  of  the 
other  churches  by  at  least  a  generation.  There  is  a 
cannon  ball  embedded  in  the  tile  roof  which  is  a  relic 
or  reminder  of  the  bombardment  of  the  city  by  Sir 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         133 

Francis  Drake  near  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
He  tried  to  fire  the  principal  buildings  of  the  town  with 
his  hot  shot,  but  as  they  would  not  burn  he  consented  to 
ransom  the  place  for,  it  is  said,  the  very  moderate  sum 
of  25,000  ducats.  He  left  a  fearful  name,  did  Sir 
Francis,  and  the  little  children  in  Santo  Domingo,  just 
as  in  old  Spain,  are,  when  inclined  to  be  mischievous, 
intimidated  with  the  threat  that  "  El  Drak  "  will  come 
again. 

In  the  cathedral  rest  many  distinguished  bones,  but 
there  is  no  rest  for  the  bones  of  the  great  Columbus  him- 
self. I  think  he  lies  buried,  as  was  his  deathbed  desire, 
in  the  cathedral  church  at  Santo  Domingo,  but  there 
are  some  who  think  differently.  He  was  certainly  buried 
there,  but  as  only  happens  to  the  great  ones  of  the 
earth  his  ashes  have  been  frequently  disturbed.  When 
the  buccaneers  ruled  these  seas  the  archbishop  of  the 
day  records  how  he  had  the  tomb  in  the  presbytery 
covered  with  earth  so  that  it  might  escape  the  notice  of 
prying  eyes,  and  again  in  1795,  when  Spain  by  the 
Treaty  of  Basle  ceded  the  island  of  Santo  Domingo 
to  France,  a  commission  was  sent  out  authorised  to 
remove  the  discoverer  of  the  New  World  to  Havana. 
Certain  bones  and  other  relics  were  taken  on  board 
a  Spanish  man-of-war  and  carried  to  Havana,  there  to 
be  enshrined  in  the  cathedral,  and  they  were  again 
removed  to  Seville  in  Spain  a  few  days  before  the  island 
of  Cuba  passed  into  our  hands  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris, 
1898. 

In  1877,  however,  while  workmen  were  making  some 
repairs  in  the  Dominican  cathedral  they  opened  an  un- 
suspected vault  and  came  across  a  leaden  coffin  which 
had  evidently  been  most  jealously  concealed.     On  the 


134        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

outside  it  was  marked  with  the  initial  letters  of  the 
great  navigator's  name,  while  inside  was  an  inscription 
which  ran:  "The  illustrious  and  noble  gentleman  Don 
Christopher  Columbus."  Spain  immediately  sent  over  a 
commission  composed  of  members  of  the  Spanish  acad- 
emy to  investigate  this  historical  find.  They  were  not 
convinced,  and  went  away  inclined  to  believe  that  the 
only  authentic  remains  were  those  in  Havana.  The 
Spanish  suggestion  has  always  been  that  the  inscrip- 
tions and  other  indications  on  the  casket  that  came  to 
light  at  such  a  late  day  are  spurious.  This  might  well 
be,  and  yet  the  archbishop  and  canons  of  the  cathedral 
and  several  foreign  consuls  were  practically  visual  wit- 
nesses of  the  discovery. 

The  explanation  generally  offered  in  Santo  Domingo 
of  this  confused  tale  of  mixed  caskets  and  coffins  is  as 
follows  (and  it  is  an  explanation  which  seems  to  me 
exceedingly  plausible)  : 

When  the  order  came  from  Spain  in  1795  to  pre- 
pare the  remains  for  removal  to  Havana  the  canons 
of  the  cathedral,  not  wishing  to  rob  their  sanctuary 
of  its  chief  distinction,  turned  over  to  the  naval  officers 
charged  with  the  pious  duty  either  the  remains  of 
Columbus's  brother  or  his  nephew,  and  themselves  con- 
tinued to  keep  watch  and  vigil  over  the  remains  of  the 
head  of  the  house  and  the  father  of  the  New  World. 
However,  it  is  an  idle  controversy  that  will  never  be 
settled  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  who  concern  them- 
selves with  it. 

The  northeast  coast  of  Santo  Domingo,  with  Samana 
Bay  and  its  wonderful  series  of  harbours  and  land- 
locked roadsteads,  is  a  part  of  the  Dominican  Republic 
that  is  destined  to  play  a  great  role  in  the  American 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE  135 

Mediterranean.  Perhaps  there  was  no  man  in  America 
of  his  day  and  generation  more  ignorant  than  General 
Grant  of  foreign  affairs,  and  yet,  with  singular  presci- 
ence even  for  such  a  man  of  destiny  as  he  was,  he 
selected  Samana  as  a  naval  station  at  a  time  when  the 
harassed  Dominicans  were  only  too  anxious  to  obtain  a 
respectable  neighbour  at  any  price  or  at  no  price  at  all. 
Sumner,  in  a  vindictive  spirit  of  outraged  vanity,  de- 
feated the  project,  with  the  result  that  this  district, 
though  in  a  direct  line  between  our  Atlantic  ports  and 
Panama,  and  though  it  commands  both  the  Mona  and 
the  more  distant  Windward  Passage,  still  practically 
remains  a  wilderness. 

We  have  acquired  many  harbours,  strategic  points, 
and  keys  as  a  result  of  the  Spanish  war,  but  certainly 
none  of  those  obtained  possess  all  the  advantages  of 
Samana.  Here  we  have  deep  water  and  a  commanding, 
central  position.  The  peninsula  on  the  north,  all  high 
land,  protects  this  harbour  or  lagoon,  for  such  it  is,  the 
whole  forty  miles  of  its  length,  and  behind  this  barrier 
there  is  deep  water  and  anchorage  ample  for  all  the 
warships  and  all  the  merchant  vessels  that  float  on  the 
high  seas  to-day.  Even  at  this  late  day,  if  the  penin- 
sula alone  could  be  acquired,  with  command  of  the  ad- 
jacent waters,  our  position  in  the  West  Indies  would  be 
immensely  strengthened.  Here,  as  nowhere  else,  is  a 
spacious  anchorage,  and  high  ridges  that  could  be  forti- 
fied, and  great  plateaus  suitable  for  camps  and  sani- 
taria. 

After  passing  Balandra  Head,  the  steamer  enters  a 
fjord  with  alternating  cliffs  and  beaches,  the  cliffs  hung 
with  vines  and  the  beaches  overtopped  with  cocoa  palms. 
The  first  few  miles  reminded  me  very  much  of  the  sail- 


136        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

ing  in  a  very  different  part  of  the  tropical  world,  up  the 
Mekong  River  from  the  sea  to  Saigon.  Then  the 
prospect  widens  and  we  steam  slowly  out  into  the  great 
landlocked  harbour  of  Santa  Barbara.  High  hills  pro- 
tect it  on  the  north  and  it  is  separated  from  the  great 
gulf  outside  by  the  island  upon  which  the  pirates  of  a 
former  age  were  accustomed  to  careen  their  vessels. 
Another  inner  harbour  is  protected  by  a  line  of  reefs, 
and  here  egress  can  be  obtained  in  any  weather  with 
the  largest  steamers.  The  steep  hillsides  to  the  north 
are  cultivated  with  small  fruits  to  their  summits  and  I 
can  recall  no  place  in  the  island  that  presents  such  an 
attractive  picture.  Under  any  other  form  of  govern- 
ment than  has  obtained  here  until  recently,  or  under 
no  form  of  government  at  all,  Santa  Barbara  would 
have  become  one  of  the  winter  cities  of  the  world. 
Curiously  enough,  this  little  town  and  these  beautiful 
shores  were  the  scene,  as  far  back  as  1825,  of  one  of  the 
many  attempts  that  have  been  made  by  philanthropists 
and  benevolent  societies  in  the  United  States  to  plant 
some  of  our  surplus  negro  population  in  other  parts  of 
the  world.  There  are  still  a  few  of  the  descendants  of 
these  emigrants  on  the  shores  of  Samana,  and  they  still 
call  themselves  "  Marse  "  Tinsley's  boys,  after  the  ec- 
centric old  planter  who  sent  their  grandparents  out  from 
Mississippi  years  ago  to  this  paradise.  They  still  speak 
English  and  profess  various  dissenting  religions.  They 
keep  out  of  politics  as  much  as  they  can,  and  they  have 
acquired  small  farms  and  some  wealth;  their  standing 
in  this  community  is  altogether  creditable  to  the  Afro- 
American  in  the  role  of  a  tropical  coloniser. 

In  conclusion,  I  think  I  may  say  without  excess  of 
optimism  that  as  a  result  of  our  intervention  and  finan- 


SANTO  DOMINGO— OUR  PROTEGE         137 

cial  assistance  the  situation  in  the  Dominican  Repubhc 
is  immensely  improved.  Five  years  have  passed  and 
our  control  of  the  custom-houses  *  has  not  as  yet  pro- 
voked any  of  the  disagreeable  incidents  that  were  not 
unnaturally  apprehended.  Every  month  100,000  dol- 
lars gold  goes  to  New  York  and  a  handsome  sum  is  paid 
into  the  Dominican  treasury.  The  duties,  however,  by 
which  this  happy  state  of  affairs  is  brought  about  are 
very  high.  Many  imports  are  taxed  80  and  90  and 
some  few  schedules  100  per  cent.,  ad  valorem.  Duties 
of  such  a  character  are  certainly  not  conducive  to  the 
development  of  the  island  and  the  expansion  of  its  trade, 
which,  after  all,  is  what  the  bondholders  and  all  other 
concerned  have  most  at  heart.  The  cost  of  living,  espe- 
cially for  foreigners,  is  almost  prohibitive,  and  while 
the  volume  of  trade  is  increasing,  this  growth  is  nothing 
like  what  it  would  be  if  a  more  fostering  fiscal  policy 
were  pursued.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  large  numbers 
of  the  population  are  restive  under  these  burdens.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  country  is  paying  a 
debt  which,  though  legally  contracted,  never  brought 
any  compensating  advantages  to  the  taxpayers.  The 
sixteen  millions  which  the  Dominicans  are  now  honestly 
endeavouring  to  pay  off  were  used  in  putting  down  or 
raising  revolutions,  or  were  squandered  or  stolen  in 
still  more  disgraceful  ways.  Under  these  circum- 
stances it  is  not  only  my  opinion,  but  it  is  the  belief  of 
all  qualified  observers  on  the  island,  that  the  time  is 
ripe  for  a  reduction  in  the  monthly  or  annual  payments 
on  the  bonds,  a  step  which  would  enable  the  government 
of  General  Caceres  to  reduce  the  present  oppressive 
tariff  schedules  and  yet  safeguard  the  interest  on  the 
bonds.  The   Dominican  papers  announce  that  an  ar- 

*  For  commercial  and  trade  statistics  see  Appendix  C,  page  419. 


138        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

rangement  along  these  lines  is  now  under  discussion  be- 
tween the  President  of  the  republic  and  the  Hon.  Fen- 
ton  McCreery,  our  very  able  diplomatic  representative 
in  this  interesting  country.  If  the  negotiations  reach  a 
successful  conclusion,  if  the  amount  of  the  debt  pay- 
ments is  reduced  temporarily,  if  only  during  the  next 
two  or  three  critical  years,  I  believe  that  the  security 
behind  the  bonds  will  be  increased  and  the  outlook  for 
continued  peaceful  development  of  the  war-ridden  re- 
public greatly  improved.  I  commend  to  the  most  care- 
ful perusal  the  text  of  the  convention  between  the 
Dominican  Republic  and  the  United  States  signed 
in  February,  1907.  I  give  this  document  in  the  Appen- 
dix *  in  full  because  of  the  great  importance  attached 
to  it  by  all  who  have  seriously  contemplated  our  West 
Indian  problems  and  duties,  even  though  Congress  has 
preferred  not  to  follow  this  precedent  in  dealing  with 
the  tangled  financial  affairs  of  Honduras  and  Nica- 
ragua. 

*See  Appendix  C,  Note  I,  page  414. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Venezuela  To-day 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  bulk  of  Venezuelan  trade 
is  still  with  Europe,  our  relations  with  our  neighbour 
just  across  the  Caribbean  have  been  growing  closer  in 
the  last  twenty  years ;  indeed  at  times  they  have  become 
disagreeably  close. 

"  Little  Venice,"  so  called  by  the  early  explorers  be- 
cause they  found  the  Maracaibo  Indians  living  up 
their  lagoons  in  houses  built  upon  piles,  is  one  of  the 
few,  if  not  the  only,  portion  of  the  American  continent 
that  Columbus  ever  saw  and  trod.  It  is  a  very  beau- 
tiful country — coast,  sierras,  plains,  and  all.  In  many 
a  point  to  point  cruise  from  Para  to  the  Orinoco,  in 
many  a  zigzag  journey  across  the  pampas  and  through 
the  shaded  valleys  of  the  "  hot  country,"  I  have  paused 
to  ask  myself  whether  the  entrancing  view  that  opened 
before  me  was  not  perhaps  the  same  memory  which 
warmed  the  conqueror's  heart  when  he  came  to  die, 
forsaken  by  kings,  nobles,  and  villains  in  his  prison- 
lodging  at  Valladolid. 

Venezuela  *  is  larger  than  it  appears  on  the  casual 
maps  which  treat  of  South  America  and  it  is  entitled 
to  more  consideration  than  it  has  received  during  the 
luckless  years  when  Castro  and  his  crew  were  in  power. 
The  area  of  this  little-known  country  is  greater  than 
that   of   the   British   Isles,    the   German   Empire,    and 

*Her  finances,  commerce,  and  tariffs  are  described  at  some  length 
in  Appendix  D,  Note  I,  page  432. 

139 


140        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Japan  combined,  while  its  population  only  approximates 
that  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  taken  together. 
Its  national  debt  is  about  fifty  millions  of  dollars  and  its 
potential  wealth  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice; — here 
and  in  adjacent  Colombia,  Raleigh  and  his  adventurers 
located  El  Dorado,  though  theirs  was  for  the  most 
part  but  the  pioneers'  bitter  guerdon  of  disappoint- 
ment. Blind  indeed  must  the  traveller  be  who  cannot 
see  that  now  these  Elizabethan  dreams,  in  a  still  more 
spacious  age,  are  about  to  be  realised. 

The  rule  of  Spain  was  endured  in  Venezuela  until 
1806,  when  General  Miranda,  a  companion  in  arms  of 
Washington  and  a  soldier  of  the  French  Directory, 
with  the  aid  of  some  American  volunteers  organised 
an  unsuccessful  rebellion.  Miranda  died  in  chains  at 
Cadiz  and  his  American  followers  were  shot  down  like 
dogs  on  the  beach  at  Puerto  Cabello.  However,  in 
all  South  America  Miranda  is  still  hailed,  and  wor- 
shipped, at  least  with  lip-service,  as  "  El  Precursor  "  or 
"  The  Forerunner,"  because  the  movement  started  by 
him  and  carried  on  by  Bolivar  ended  in  the  liberation  of 
the  continent  from  Spanish  supremacy. 

The  new  and  more  liberal  and  enlightened  Spain 
which  Bolivar  sought  to  found  soon  collapsed  into  hos- 
tile groups  of  absurdly  miscalled  republics,  whose  his- 
tory has  been  largely  a  bloody  record  of  civil  and  inter- 
national strife.  Well  might  the  Liberator  have  said, 
as  he  is  reported  to  have  done  on  his  lonely  and  unat- 
tended deathbed  at  Santa  Marta :  "  I  have  lived  in  vain. 
I  have  been  ploughing  the  sea." 

Venezuela  in  1830  separated  from  the  Greater 
Colombia  which  Bolivar  founded  and  a  constitution 
was  immediately  proclaimed.    Eight  other  constitutions 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  141 

have  been  proclaimed  since  then,  each  better  than  its 
predecessor,  but  the  country  has  continued  to  go  from 
bad  to  worse.  The  latest,  though  doubtless  not  the 
last,  constitution,  proclaimed  in  1904,  provides  in  its 
declaration  that  "  The  Government  of  the  Union  is  and 
shall  always  be  republican,  federal,  democratic,  elective, 
representative,  alternative,  and  responsible."  On  the 
coat-of-arms  of  the  republic  are  emblazoned  the  soul- 
lifting  words:  "  Independence,  Liberty,  God,  and  Fed- 
eration." These  high-sounding  professions  and  prom- 
ises have  served  to  cloak,  very  transparently  it  is  true, 
the  exploits  of  a  succession  of  bandit  chieftains  perhaps 
without  a  parallel  in  history  for  rapacity  and  shame- 
lessness. 

Since  1830  fifty-eight  well-defined  revolutions  have 
swept  over  the  fair  land,  and  of  these  thirteen  have 
overturned  the  government  of  the  day  and  assumed 
control. 

Venezuela's  strongest  man  was,  undoubtedly,  Guz- 
man Blanco.  Personally  or  by  deputy  he  maintained  a 
rule  which  was  really  a  dictatorship  from  1870  until 
1889,  although  his  formal  resignation  occurred  in  1886. 
From  a  richly  remunerative  official  seat,  he  gave  his 
beloved  people  a  liberal  dose  of  the  iron  hand,  very 
much,  however,  to  their  general  advantage,  although 
they  are  not  yet  done  paying  for  their  benefits.  It  is 
very  largely  his  legacy  which  has  now  involved  the 
United  States  in  the  toils  of  Venezuelan  finance.  He 
granted  railway  concessions  to  enterprising  foreigners, 
and  gathered  financial  plums  all  along  the  line.  He 
improved  the  system  of  interior  transportation,  im- 
proved harbours,  and  granted,  in  1883,  the  asphalt  con- 
cession which  is  now  the  subject  of  dispute  between  the 


142        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

trust  which  afterward  purchased  it  and  the  government 
of  Venezuela. 

If  Blanco  could  have  induced  his  family  to  stay  at 
home  and  not  flock  to  Paris,  where  his  daughter  mar- 
ried a  duke  and  the  other  expenses  were  heavy,  he 
might  have  become  the  Diaz  of  his  country.  He  was 
certainly  quite  as  able  a  man  as  the  Mexican  dictator 
and  his  task  was  not  nearly  so  difficult;  but  even  Blanco 
could  not  rule  his  country  by  cable  from  the  Champs- 
Elysees,  and  when  he  fell  his  people  tumbled  down  all 
the  statues  in  his  honour  which  he  had  allowed  to  be 
erected  during  his  regency. 

A  summary  of  Venezuelan  commercial  and  fiscal  con- 
ditions is  given  in  another  place;*  the  modern  political 
phase  has  been  so  involved  with  our  own  development 
as  a  world  power  that  many  of  its  details  are  known  to 
those  who  follow  with  intelligent  interest  the  course  of 
current  events.  In  December,  1908,  however,  a  leading 
article  in  the  Neiieste  Nachrichten,  the  Berlin  paper 
which  stood  closest  to  Prince  Biilow,  the  then  Chan- 
cellor, welcomed  Castro,  the  stormy  petrel  of  South 
America,  to  Berlin  with  the  following  words  of  revela- 
tion, which  came  as  a  surprise  only  to  those  who  do  not 
know  that  the  thread  of  every  anti-American  intrigue 
in  Latin-America  for  ten  years  past  has  been  spun  in  the 
German  capital  or  in  the  Hansa  Ports: 

"  Intelligent  self-interest,"  wrote  the  Wilhelm  Strasse 
organ,  "  should  convince  the  German  Government  and 
people  that  it  is  the  part  of  wisdom  and  policy  to  treat 
President  Castro  with  every  honour  and  with  all  con- 
sideration. 

"  It  is  well  known,"  says  this  frankly  informing  pub- 

*  See  Appendix  D,  page  432. 


u 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  143 

lication,  "  that  Castro  Is  not  on  friendly  terms  with  the 
Americans. 

"  It  also  is  well  known,"  continued  this  organ  of  the 
German  Chancellor,  and  truly,  this  statement  of  fact 
should  be  more  thoroughly  appreciated  In  the  United 
States  than  it  Is,  "  that  we  are  waging  in  South  America 
a  quiet  but  serious  war  with  the  North  American  Union 
for  economic  supremacy. 

*'  The  English  are  angry,"  adds  this  amazing  ex- 
ponent of  German  official  thought,  "  because  Castro 
comes  to  Germany  to  buy  the  military  stores  they  would 
have  liked  him  to  buy  of  them.  Germany  is  now  to 
benefit  by  these  orders,  while  from  political  and  eco- 
nomic standpoints  German  influence  in  South  America 
can  gain  permanent  support  in  Venezuela." 

The  answer  of  the  Government  in  Washington  to 
this  frank  revelation  of  German  policy  in  South 
America  was  the  despatch  of  a  battleship  and  two 
cruisers  to  Venezuelan  waters,  an  answer  which  could 
not  have  been  improved  upon  except  by  the  despatch  of 
two  battleships  and  four  cruisers. 

Castros  may  come  and  go  in  Venezuela,  or  they  may 
be  succeeded  by  a  Gomez,  another  scamp  and  former 
cattle  thief,  but  the  facts  of  the  Caribbean  situation, 
the  vitally  essential  facts  to  be  borne  in  mind  and  never 
to  be  lost  sight  of,  are  that  during  the  blockade  of  the 
Venezuelan  ports  in  1903  the  German  navy  converted 
the  Dutch  island  of  Curasao  into  Its  naval  base,  little 
Holland  making  no  objection  and  never  being  called  to 
account  for  her  failure  to  enforce  strictly  the  neutrality 
laws.  To-day  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas,  which  the 
Danes  at  the  last  moment  declined  to  sell  to  the  United 
States  at  the  hardly  concealed  request  of  Emperor 
William,  is  being  governed,  so  far  as  It  Is  governed  at 
all,  by  the  Hamburg-American  Steamship  Company. 


144        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

To  the  average  American,  of  course,  St.  Thomas  and 
Curasao  are  strange  names  which  mean  nothing  and 
simply  do  not  enter  into  his  horizon.  But  any  one  at  all 
familiar  with  West  Indian  routes  and  modern  war  con- 
ditions recognises  that  the  possession  of  Curacao  or  its 
absolute  neutrality  is  essential  to  the  defence  of  the 
Isthmian  Canal  in  the  case  of  war  between  the  United 
States  and  any  considerable  naval  power.  St.  Thomas, 
in  addition  to  being  a  natural  citadel,  turned  out  ready 
made  and  finished  by  the  Sculptor  of  the  world,  com- 
mands, and  indeed  overawes,  the  Anegada  passage, 
which  is  by  far  the  most  important  entrance  to  the 
Caribbean  Sea  from  the  waters  of  the  western  ocean, 
and  consequently  is  the  route  which  will  be  most  trav- 
elled when  the  canal  becomes  a  fact  or  the  invasion  of 
the  Western  World  by  a  European  armada  becomes  a 
reality. 

All  of  this  will  be  regarded  by  the  superficial  ob- 
server of  Caribbean  conditions  as  wandering  far  afield 
from  the  Venezuelan  situation  and  the  personality  of 
Castro,  the  ex-cattle  thief  and  bibulous  invalid  of  Berlin 
and  Santander.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  the  crux 
of  the  question.  Castro  long  since  would  have  paid 
the  penalty  of  his  crimes,  personal  as  well  as  ofl&cial,  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  international  complications  of 
the  Caribbean  situation,  out  of  which  he  has  with  great 
cleverness  always  known  how  to  draw  his  personal  profit 
and  political  advantage. 

President  Cleveland's  intercession  in  favour  of  Vene- 
zuela in  regard  to  the  disputed  boundary  of  British 
Guiana,  while  it  occurred  before  Castro's  advent  on  the 
scene,  redounded  greatly  to  his  credit. 

One  of  the  claims  to  the  gratitude  of  his  people  and, 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  145 

indeed,  of  all  Latin-Americans  which  the  comic  and  at 
the  same  time  most  clever  Castro  most  frequently  ad- 
vances, is  that,  thanks  to  him,  the  mouths  of  the  Ori- 
noco remain  in  the  hands  of  Venezuela.  Whether  he 
did  it  or  whether  President  Cleveland  solely  is  respon- 
sible for  the  unhappy  state  stroke,  the  fact  remains  that 
the  Orinoco  is  controlled  by  Venezuela. 

As  long  as  men  of  the  Castro  and  Gomez  stamp  re- 
main in  power — and  long  they  seem  likely  to  remain — 
this  means  that  the  entrance  to  the  heart  of  South 
America,  its  magnificent  river  system  and  unexplored 
and  much  more  unexploited,  hinterland,  is  hermetically 
sealed  and  absolutely  closed  to  the  influences  of  civilisa- 
tion and  of  commerce. 

Again,  when  the  best  people  in  Venezuela,  at  least 
practically  all  who  were  not  in  dungeons,  took  up  arms 
in  an  attempt  to  displace  their  boorish  dictator  with  an 
intelligent  and  honourable  man  like  General  Matos,  Cas- 
tro was  so  clever  as  to  concentrate  the  attention  of  the 
State  Department  upon  one  aspect  of  the  complication, 
and,  as  it  seemed  to  me  from  the  standpoint  of  Ca- 
racas, where  I  was  at  the  time,  upon  one  aspect  only. 

General  Matos  had  been  educated  in  Europe,  and 
had  long  worthily  represented  his  country  in  Paris, 
both  as  minister  plenipotentiary  and  later  as  a  most  dis- 
tinguished exile.  His  affiliations,  personal  and  political, 
were  naturally,  under  these  circumstances,  almost  alto- 
gether European,  and  his  revolutionary  venture  was 
undoubtedly  viewed  with  favour  by  all  the  foreign 
offices  of  the  Continent,  which,  after  many  sad  experi- 
ences, had  given  up  all  hope  of  doing  business  and 
securing  just  treatment  for  their  nationals  from  the 
Castro  regime. 


146        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

In  the  campaign  which  followed  Matos's  poor  gen- 
eralship stood  Castro  in  good  stead,  but  his  most  valu- 
able asset,  and  one  which  he  never  allowed  to  lie  idle, 
was  the  actual  or  reputed  preference  of  Uncle  Sam  for 
a  continuance  of  his  government. 

When  all  other  means  of  bringing  their,  for  the 
most  part  just,  claims  to  the  attention  of  Caracas  and 
Castro  had  proved  ineffective,  Germany,  England,  and 
Italy  instituted  a  blockade  of  Venezuelan  ports  to  bring 
the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  Venezuelan  people. 
While  our  attitude  was  in  principle  absolutely  correct — 
in  practice  it  was  helpful  to  Castro. 

The  blockade  was,  according  to  plan,  perfectly  peace- 
ful, perhaps  it  was  never  proposed  by  the  three  great 
powers  to  Inflict  serious  damage  on  a  people  who,  after 
all,  were  more  unfortunate  than  blameworthy. 

But  a  peaceful  and  somewhat  ineffective  blockade 
passed  the  comprehension  of  the  average  Venezuelan 
and  his  explanation  of  it,  which  presupposed  a  good 
understanding  if  not  an  alliance  between  the  Dictator 
and  Washington,  proved  a  pillar  of  strength  to  the 
Castro  gang  at  the  only  moment  until  recently  when  It 
seemed  possible  for  the  Venezuelan  people  by  their 
own  Initiative  and  strength  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  the 
cattle  thief  and  his  horde  of  bandits. 

I  have  heard  Venezuelan  fishermen  and  the  car- 
gadores  of  La  Guayra  and  Puerto  Cabello  taunt  the 
German,  English,  and  Italian  naval  officers  with  their 
inactivity. 

"  Why  do  you  not  try  to  bombard  our  forts?  "  they 
would  enquire,  and  then,  meeting  with  nothing  but 
frigid  silence,  would  answer  the  query  themselves : 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  147 

"  Because  if  you  do  it  Tio  Samuel  will  spank  you, 
and  you  know  it." 

This  situation,  bad  as  it  was,  was  made  more  deplor- 
able by  the  action  of  a  German  captain,  who  chose  this 
time  of  all  others  to  land  on  the  coast  island  of  Mar- 
garita and  make  some  surveys.  This  indiscretion 
spurred  Washington  to  greater  activity,  and  the  block- 
ade was  raised. 

It  is  true  we  compelled  Venezuela  to  accept  the 
Hague  tribunal,  and  it  is  true  that  the  verdict  of  this 
august  court  cost  Venezuela  a  pretty  penny,  but  still 
the  blockade  apparently,  thanks  to  us,  was  a  failure, 
and  that  was  the  only  result  that  came  within  the  vision 
of  the  Venezuelan  people,  and  of  course  by  Castro  and 
his  supporters,  for  their  greater  glory,  our  action  was 
misrepresented. 

Strengthened  at  home  and  abroad  by  these  victories, 
real  or  apparent,  Castro  for  the  last  four  years  of  his 
administration  devoted  himself  to  the  pursuit  and  the 
punishment  of  those  natives  and  foreigners  he,  with 
or  without  reason,  chose  to  regard  as  partisans  of  his 
defeated  rival.  General  Matos. 

This  savage  persecution  led  incidentally  to  the  rup- 
ture of  diplomatic  relations  with  all  civilised  coun- 
tries with  the  exception  of  Spain  and  Brazil,  and 
brought  about  a  situation  which  makes  it  improbable 
that  Castro  will  ever  return  to  his  native  land,  even 
should  his  health  permit  him  to  again  resume  the  ex- 
tremely active  life  which  he  so  long  pursued. 

The  rupture  with  France,  while  there  were  many 
other  vexatious  questions  between  the  two  countries, 
came  about  through  the  seizure  of  the  property  of  the 
French  Cable  Company  and  its  condemnation  to  pay 


148        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

a  fine  of  $5,000,000.  President  Castro  held,  and  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  clearly  proved,  that  the  cable  com- 
pany had  actually  furthered  the  cause  of  General 
Matos.  The  company  entered  a  general  denial  and 
the  verdict  of  the  court,  which  was  immediately  fol- 
lowed by  confiscation,  went  against  it. 

The  facts  practically  are,  at  least  they  so  impressed 
me,  that  the  ofl^cials  of  the  French  Cable  Company 
went  the  limit,  and  perhaps  beyond  it,  in  the  support  of 
Matos  for  cogent  reasons. 

Castro  taxed  the  company  ofllicially  and  unofficially 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  business  done,  and  while 
a  fluent  correspondent  by  cable  himself,  he  would 
never  pay  his  tolls.  When  Castro  stood  a  debtor  on 
its  books  to  the  extent  of  $80,000,  the  company  "  cut  " 
his  credit.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  row,  which 
entered  a  serious  phase  when  Castro  followed  the  re- 
turning French  Minister  to  his  port  of  embarkation 
with  every  imaginable  slight  and  insult. 

The  literature  of  the  asphalt  case,  which  actually 
if  not  avowedly  brought  about  the  rupture  of  diplo- 
matic relations  between  Caracas  and  Washington,  could 
not  be  crammed  into  ten  freight  cars,  and  the  present 
deponent  makes  no  claim  to  having  read,  marked, 
learned,  and  judicially  digested  all  the  matter  which 
these  many  heavy  volumes  contain. 

But  I  believe  I  have  a  good  idea  of  the  main  facts 
and  the  opposing  contentions  in  the  controversy. 

From  the  moment  Castro  achieved  the  Presidency 
in  his  swashbuckling  way  he  began  to  put  spokes  in  the 
wheels  of  the  profitable  business  upon  which  the  asphalt 
people  were  then  engaged.  They  doubtless  humoured 
him,  though  this  is  not  a  matter  of  record,  because  if 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  149 

they  had  not  known  the  way  to  ease,  if  only  for  a  short 
time,  the  itching  palm  of  a  South  American  President 
they  never  would  have  received  their  concession  or  been 
permitted  to  exploit  it  for  a  single  day. 

Soon,  however,  Castro's  demands  became  so  heavy 
that  the  company  decided  it  was  a  choice  between  bank- 
ruptcy and  refusal  to  comply. 

It  is  only  fair  to  interject  here  that  the  Bermudez 
Asphalt  Company  was  not  the  only  corporation  the 
Andean  cattle  thief  set  about  milking.  He  treated 
them,  one  and  all,  native  and  foreign,  about  alike.  All 
he  was  really  particular  about  was  his  percentages,  and 
about  these  he  was  very  particular  indeed. 

At  this  juncture  in  the  relations  of  Castro  and  the 
asphalt  company  the  Matos  revolution  broke  out,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  its  success  was  prayed  for  by  all 
connected  with  the  American  corporation,  apart  from 
its  special  grievances,  which  had  now  reached  the  stage 
of  making  it  impossible  to  mine  asphalt  except  at  a 
loss.  The  Andean  soldiery,  who  were  Castro's  sup- 
port, had  instituted  a  reign  of  terror  throughout  the 
land,  which  endangered  every  honest  workingman's  life, 
his  family,  and  his  property. 

Once  Matos  was  defeated,  Castro  went  gunning  for 
the  American  corporation.  To  begin  with,  he  stopped 
all  work  and  placed  an  embargo  on  the  property.  Then 
he  sought  to  prove,  first,  that  the  Bermudez  company 
never  had  complied  with  the  terms  of  its  concession, 
which  consequently  had  lapsed. 

Secondly,  that  the  company  had  given  help  and  com- 
fort to  the  enemies  of  Venezuela  and  legally  all  its 
rights  and  all  its  property  were  liable  to  confiscation. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Castro  gave  his  extremely 


I50        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

able  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Dr.  Jesus  Rojas  Paul, 
the  option  of  going  to  a  subterranean  cell  in  San  Carlos 
Prison  or  writing  a  certain  note,  the  purport  of  which 
he  disapproved  and  the  statements  which  it  contained 
he  knew  to  be  false. 

Dr.  Paul,  not  being  by  any  means  the  kind  of  man 
who  dies  for  a  principle  and  cannot  live  without  self- 
respect,  wrote  the  note.  When  such  instances  of  law- 
less pressure  were  taking  place  in  Cabinet  circles  it 
may  be  easily  imagined  what  tone  the  President's  police 
assumed  with  the  native  Venezuelan  labourers  and  tele- 
graph clerks  upon  whose  evidence  the  case  against  the 
American  company  rested. 

It  is  true  that  commissions  were  appointed  to  hear 
evidence  in  New  York  and  elsewhere,  but  this  seeming 
desire  for  fairness  was  for  purely  hoodwinking  pur- 
poses. Practically  no  one  appeared  before  the  commis- 
sion except  starving  Venezuelan  exiles  who,  knowing 
that  this  was  the  only  way  to  have  the  decrees  of  ban- 
ishment against  them  cancelled,  swore  to  anything. 

The  case  under  these  circumstances  went  against  the 
asphalt  people,  and  the  Supreme  Court  of  Venezuela 
sanctioned  the  confiscation  of  the  asphalt  lakes.  The 
company  appealed  to  Washington,  and  Mr.  Root  asked 
for  a  rehearing,  which  was  refused. 

To  many  the  case  of  the  company  seems  weak,  be- 
cause by  one  clause  of  the  concession  under  which 
American  capital  was  invested  in  this  property  it  was 
expressly  stipulated  that  all  litigation  in  which  the  com- 
pany might  in  the  future  become  involved  was  to  be 
heard  in  the  Venezuelan  courts,  and  that  in  any  case  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  to  be  regarded  as 
final. 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  151 

The  answer  to  this  is  perhaps  not  in  law,  but  cer- 
tainly in  equity,  that  the  American  corporation  con- 
templated submitting  without  appeal  to  the  Venezuelan 
courts,  as  they  were  constituted  by  due  process  of  law 
in  the  days  of  the  Presidents  Blanco,  Crespo,  and 
Andrade  when  the  concession  was  granted. 

But  it  objected  to  the  court  as  constituted  by  Castro 
because  at  the  time  the  confiscatory  decree  was  issued 
it  was  composed  of  a  muleteer,  a  carter,  and  an  inn- 
keeper of  the  lowest  category,  whose  collective  knowl- 
edge of  even  the  language  of  courts  was  so  small  that 
they  had  to  hire  an  attorney  to  clothe  their  decision, 
which,  of  course,  they  received  direct  from  Castro,  in 
legal  verbiage. 

The  properly  constituted  Supreme  Court  of  a  coun- 
try like  Venezuela,  where  the  bar  numbers  many  able 
and  honest  men,  is  a  different  tribunal  from  one  packed 
with  Castro's  mercenary  puppets  and  boon  companions, 
and  by  no  interpretation  of  the  original  concession  can 
the  asphalt  company  be  compelled  to  acquiesce  in  the 
wholly  illegal  proceedings  by  which  it  was  robbed  of 
its  property. 

But  the  United  States  had  a  grievance  and  a  cause 
of  first  complaint  against  Castro  which  stands  on  a 
different  level  from  that  of  the  case  of  the  asphalt 
company.  In  the  spring  of  1908  the  United  States 
mail-bags  addressed  to  the  captain  of  the  cruiser 
Tacoma  were  detained  in  La  Guayra  for  a  day,  the 
bags  opened,  and  the  ofiicial  instructions  of  the  Navy 
Department  to  Captain  John  Hood  read.  Before  Cap- 
tain Hood's  account  of  the  outrage  reached  Washing- 
ton, Minister  Russell,  who  was,  unfortunately,  still  in 
Caracas,  where  he  long  had  served  as   Castro's  ideal 


152        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  what  a  foreign  Minister  should  be,  had  in  an  official 
statement  misrepresented  what  really  occurred  and  prac- 
tically condoned  the  offence. 

If  it  can  be  done,  even  at  this  late  day,  this  deplor- 
able incident  should  be  reopened  and  proper  reparation 
demanded.  There  is  not  a  yellow  journal  in  South 
America  which  has  not  gloated  over  the  occurrence, 
and  in  some  countries  at  least  naval  mail  will  not  be 
respected  unless  the  punishment  of  the  pilferers  of  our 
official  correspondence,  who  are  well  known  and  who 
glory  in  their  exploit,  is  exacted. 

Two  years  ago  the  various  organic  troubles  from 
which  Castro  has  long  suffered  began  to  cause  him 
moments  of  anxiety.  After  a  more  serious  attack 
of  his  malady,  which  kept  him  in  his  chamber  at 
the  Yellow  House  for  two  weeks,  the  Dictator  called 
together  his  family  in  council  and  discussed  the 
situation. 

He  informed  the  strange  family  group,  his  brother, 
Don  Celestin  Castro,  a  famous  judge  of  cattle,  and  his 
wife,  Dofia  Sorla,  a  dark-eyed,  dark-haired  Indian 
woman,  whose  just  grievances  against  her  husband  have 
served  as  cloak  to  her  own  shortcomings,  that  his 
physicians  informed  him  that  unless  he  threw  off  abso- 
lutely and  immediately  the  cares  of  state  and  led  a  quiet, 
secluded  life  his  years  were  numbered. 

"  What  is  to  be  done?  "  is  the  way  he  put  it  to  the 
family  whose  interest,  financial  at  least,  in  the  continu- 
ance of  the  Castro  regime  was  only  second  to  that  of 
the  Dictator  himself.  For  an  answer  Dotia  Sorla 
grunted  "  '  Gomez,'  "  and  Don  Celestin  assented  with 
the  words: 

"  Vicente;  he  Is  the  only  man  we  can  trust." 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  153 

And  so  it  was  that  Don  Vicente  Gomez  entered  upon 
the  scene. 

Gomez  is  a  friend  and  neighbour  of  Castro  and  was 
a  companion  of  the  Dictator  in  the  days  when  his  great- 
est ventures  were  to  steal  a  herd  of  cattle  and  drive 
them  across  the  Colombian  frontier  to  a  market,  where 
no  questions  were  asked  and  branding  marks  ignored. 

Soon  these  border  bandits  became  more  closely  allied 
by  marriage.  I  think  it  was  by  the  marriage  of  Mme. 
Castro's  sister  to  the  younger  brother  of  Gomez. 

The  families  became  inseparable,  and  when  Castro 
and  his  cattle  thieves  captured  the  capital  and  pro- 
claimed their  chief  President  he  made  his  old  com- 
panion, Gomez,  Vice-President. 

Gomez  in  a  way  was  a  wonderful  Vice-President. 
The  Senate  never  was  convened,  so  he  did  not  have  to 
preside  over  that.  He  is  a  stolid,  dull-looking  man,  the 
complete  antithesis  of  his  neighbour  and  companion 
Castro,  who  was  always  bursting  with  nervous  energy 
and  the  busiest  man  on  the  South  American  continent 
when  not  intoxicated. 

I  often  came  in  contact  with  this  silent  partner  of 
the  Andean  cattle  thief  who  went  into  politics,  and 
while  I  never  heard  him  say  anything  but  "  Yes  "  or 
*'  No,"  I  was  impressed  with  the  man's  balance  and 
reserve  force,  and  his  loyalty  and  adoration  of  his  chief 
were  worthy  of  a  nobler  object. 

When  the  matter  was  all  arranged  in  family  con- 
clave the  reins  of  government  were  formally  and  with 
some  solemnity  turned  over  to  Gomez,  who  evidently 
regarded  his  friend's  renunciation  of  power  as  final. 
For  some  months  Castro  kept  not  only  away  from  the 
capital,  but  wholly  apart  from  the  many  business  and 


154        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

political  schemes  with  which  he  had  heretofore  so 
profitably  to  himself  occupied  his  time. 

Then,  tiring  of  the  debauchery  in  which  he  spent  his 
days  and  nights  at  Macuto  and  La  Victoria,  the  health 
resorts  at  which  he  was  supposed  to  be  resting  and  re- 
cruiting his  strength,  Castro  began  to  meddle  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  government.  This  was  much  to  the  dis- 
pleasure of  Gomez,  who  had,  after  a  few  tastes  of 
flattery,  begun  to  take  himself  seriously.  Then  Minis- 
ters of  State  began  to  travel  down  to  Castro's  retreat 
to  receive  their  orders  as  formerly,  and  the  Administra- 
tion was  in  sad  confusion. 

The  break,  which  had  long  been  inevitable,  came 
over  a  little  matter  of  pin-money  for  Doiia  Sorla,  the 
wife,  and,  as  was  then  thought  soon  to  be,  the  widow 
of  the  Dictator.  A  syndicate  of  clever  scamps  got  hold 
of  this  simple,  but  by  no  means  unselfish,  woman  and 
persuaded  her  that  upon  the  death  of  her  husband 
his  whole  fortune  would  be  confiscated  to  pay  his  debts 
to  the  State  and  pension  at  least  some  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  his  tyranny,  "  and  then,  Doiia  Sorla, 
what  of  you?  " 

The  good  woman  had,  like  all  Indians,  become  ex- 
cessively fond  of  what  she  regarded  as  finery,  and  the 
thought  of  returning  to  her  Andean  wigwam  to  live 
on  black  beans  for  the  rest  of  her  life  was  anything  but 
pleasant.  When,  then,  the  spokesman  of  the  syndicate 
suggested  a  slight  change  in  the  tobacco  monopoly  laws 
which  would  net  Mme.  Castro  a  neat  million  or  two 
in  three  months,  her  warmest  approval  was  immedi- 
ately secured  for  the  scheme.  But  Gomez  unexpectedly, 
and  to  the  amazement  of  the  family  conclave,  demurred. 

He  was  a  grafter  himself  and  a   frank  and  open 


VENEZUELA  TO-DAY  155 

one,  but  at  this  juncture,  most  inopportunely  for  Mme. 
Castro's  pocket,  he  came  out  strongly  for  the  people. 

"  There  was  as  much  graft  going  as  the  business 
would  stand,"  he  rudely  asserted,  and  vowed  the  to- 
bacco money  should  go  into  the  treasury  to  furnish 
pensions  for  the  Andean  soldiers,  who,  it  was  true, 
were  well  fed  and  extravagantly  paid,  but  whose  future 
was  far  from  being  assured. 

Mme.  Castro  went  to  visit  her  lord  In  his  health  re- 
sort and  told  the  bored  and  invalided  debauche  stories 
about  Gomez,  all  kinds  of  stories,  only  not  the  story 
of  what  had  really  happened.  Castro's  health  immedi- 
ately began  to  improve  at  a  surprising  rate.  Hardly 
a  day  passed  but  he  despatched  couriers  to  the  capital, 
and  the  Ministers  were  plied  with  questions  as  if  Castro 
was  still  their  chief,  to  whom  they  were  responsible. 

Then  the  press  campaign  began.  Editor  after  edi- 
tor travelled  down  to  Castro's  retreat,  and  all  were 
struck  with  the  wonderful  improvement  in  the  great 
statesman's  appearance.  He  could  outride  any  man  in 
his  troop  of  guards,  they  said,  and  came  home  after 
the  wildest  scamper  across  the  pampas,  neighing  like  a 
colt. 

Gomez  knew  what  was  coming,  but  it  probably  came 
sooner  than  he  expected.  One  night  there  was  an  in- 
undation of  straw-sandalled  savages  through  the  capi- 
tal, who  shouted,  "  Long  live  Don  Cipriano  Castro,  the 
restorer  of  peace !     We  want  more  years  of  Castro  !  " 

The  next  morning  Castro  appeared  before  the  Yel- 
low House  with  a  body  of  troops,  went  in,  and  the 
Acting  President  went  out,  sadly  smiling  as  ever. 

For  a  time  the  want  of  a  cordial  understanding 
between  the   President  and  his   former  substitute  was 


156        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

apparent,  but  soon  Castro  made  overtures  and  appar- 
ently Gomez  accepted  them.  But  only  apparently,  I 
believe,  and  my  opinion  is  held  by  those  I  always  have 
found  best  informed  as  to  the  political  undercurrents 
in  Caracas. 

Gomez  is  not  as  much  of  an  Indian  as  Castro,  but 
he  has  enough  Indian  blood  to  make  him  loath  to  for- 
give the  man  who  made  him  ridiculous. 

When,  in  1908,  Castro  started  for  Europe  to  seek 
a  surgeon  abler  than  those  to  be  found  in  Venezuela, 
and  to  fish  for  alliances  in  the  troubled  waters  of  Euro- 
pean diplomacy,  he  again  turned  the  reins  of  power 
over  to  Gomez.  Not  without  deep  misgivings,  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  but  because,  Castro  out  of  the  way,  Gomez 
was  the  only  man  the  Indian  soldiery  would  obey. 
The  rough  highlanders,  the  short-swordsmen  who 
charged  and  cut  down  General  Matos's  lowlanders, 
though  they  were  armed  with  the  most  modern  Mauser 
rifles,  were  the  indispensable  factors  in  the  edifice  of 
tyranny  Castro  erected  in  Venezuela. 


CHAPTER  IX 

The  Story  of  Castro 

If  one  could  but  think  the  Castro  incident  in  Vene- 
zuelan history  were  closed,  the  following  chapter  might 
well  be  omitted.  Even  granting  that  Castro,  the  man, 
has  disappeared  as  a  factor  in  the  situation,  which  in 
my  opinion  is  taking  much  for  granted,  Castroism  and 
the  things  which  the  ex-Dictator  stood  for  remain,  and 
though  under  the  guns  of  our  ships  and  under  the  critical 
eyes  of  a  world  which  is  at  last  aroused,  they  are  not 
particularly  rampant  to-day,  it  would  be  surprising  in- 
deed should  they  never  know  a  resurrection. 

The  support  of  good  soldiers  was  the  secret  of  Gen- 
eral Cipriano  Castro's  military  and  political  successes. 
The  deposed  Dictator  did  not  rule  Venezuela  and  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  the  world  at  recurrent  intervals  dur- 
ing ten  years,  merely  because  as  a  soldier  he  is  brave 
and  resourceful,  nor  because  as  a  politician  he  is  shrewd 
and  unscrupulous,  although  these  are  qualities  conceded 
to  him  by  friend  and  foe  alike. 

His  triumph  came  because  he  had  a  formidable  frac- 
tion of  his  fellow-countrymen  behind  him,  the  jerked- 
beef-eaters  of  the  Andean  provinces,  who  proved  im- 
mensely superior  as  fighting  men  to  the  "  hot  country  " 
folk  of  the  valleys  and  the  seacoast. 

In  his  treatment  of  the  people  of  the  capital  and 
the  commercial  cities  of  the  Orientales  or  eastern  prov- 
ince men,  Castro  was  a  law  unto  himself.     No  rights 

157 


158        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

were  respected  and  the  constitutional  safeguards  every- 
where were  thrown  aside.  But  to  his  own  people,  the 
hardy  mountaineers  of  the  Tachira  and  Trujillo  prov- 
inces, which  lie  south  and  west  of  Maracaibo  on  the 
Colombian  frontier,  he  was  a  generous  patron. 

When  the  little  Dictator  sailed  for  Europe  on  a 
combined  health  and  alliance  seeking  tour,  every  mili- 
tary stronghold  in  the  land  and  every  position  of  au- 
thority which  carried  with  it  a  military  command,  was 
held  by  an  Andino.  These  savages,  like  most  other 
savages,  and  indeed  the  human  animal  generally,  knew 
upon  which  side  their  bread  was  buttered,  and  again, 
like  most  savages  at  least,  they  were  faithful  to  their 
chief. 

During  the  ten  years  of  his  control  of  the  luckless 
lowland  provinces  he  allowed  his  mountain  soldiers 
every  privilege,  including  the  one  which  they  most 
coveted,  that  of  enriching  themselves  at  the  cost  and  at 
the  expense  of  their  possibly  more  law-abiding  and  cer- 
tainly less  warlike  fellow-citizens,  the  Venezuelans 
proper,  who  reside  in  the  maritime  and  valley  dis- 
tricts. 

Castro  himself  never  forgets  that  he  is  a  mountaineer. 
At  table  he  eats  like  a  ravenous  wolf,  and  there  is 
ever  on  his  lips  some  laudatory  reference  to  his  moun- 
tain home,  San  Cristobal. 

"  After  all,  your  Excellency  should  beg  your  officials 
to  remember  that,  whatever  my  personal  unworthiness, 
I  am  the  accredited  representative  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries," said  the  unfortunate  Minister  of  Holland  in  his 
last  audience  at  the  Yellow  House  a  few  days  before 
diplomatic  relations  were  severed. 

"  And  I,"  said  Castro  curtly,  as  he  turned  upon  his 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  T59 

heel,  "  would  have  you  remember  that  I  am  the  supreme 
chief  of  the  high  countries." 

The  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  men  who  garrisoned 
the  subjugated  provinces  of  Venezuela  worshipped  Cas- 
tro like  a  god,  and  to  them  he  has  been  indeed  a 
benefactor.  Ten  years  ago  these  men  were  small  land- 
owners or  itinerant  cattle  thieves,  and  whether  cultiva- 
tors or  simply  robbers,  they  were  so  far  from  the  market 
that  neither  their  industry  nor  their  looting  helped  them 
much  to  dull  the  sharp  edge  of  the  miserable  existence 
which  they  seemed  doomed  to  lead  for  the  rest  of  their 
lives. 

It  was  Don  Cipriano  who  led  them  down  into  a 
land  overflowing  with  milk  and  honey,  who  shov/ed 
them  a  world  rich  beyond  all  the  dreams  of  Andean 
avarice,  and  then  bade  them  pitch  in  and  help  them- 
selves. 

I  consider  Castro  the  most  utterly  depraved  and  the 
most  morally  and  mentally  deformed  man  who  ever 
sat  upon  a  dictator's  throne  in  South  America,  but 
nevertheless  he  has  shown  himself  at  times  to  possess 
that  attribute  which  is  spoken  of  as  "  honour  among 
thieves."  For  the  first  eight  years  of  his  dictatorship 
Castro,  while  reserving  to  himself  the  lion's  share  of 
plunder,  as  was  his  right,  according  to  the  brigand 
code  by  which  he  shaped  his  life,  fed  his  followers 
liberally  with  the  spoils  of  the  enemy. 

No  soldiers  of  Venezuela  ever  drew  such  pay  as 
did  his,  or  were  permitted  such  perquisites.  Never 
was  promotion  so  rapid  in  any  army,  and  the  only 
qualification  insisted  upon  was  that  the  applicant  be  a 
short-swordsman  from  the  Andes. 

Again,  while  there  can  be  no  exaggeration  of  the 


i6o        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

enormous  sums  Castro  stole  from  the  National  Treasury 
or  calmly  levied  upon  wealthy  individuals  who,  when 
the  critical  moment  of  the  inevitable  choice  came,  pre- 
ferred their  lives  to  their  fortunes,  it  is  not  true  that 
the  little  Dictator  simply  transferred  his  booty  to  Eu- 
rope and  there  salted  it  away  against  the  day  of  his 
exile. 

To  the  purist,  of  course,  once  granted  he  stole,  and 
stole  largely,  it  is  a  matter  of  little  interest  what  be- 
came of  his  stealings.  But  to  the  man  who  would 
understand  Castro  and  the  deplorable  situation  which 
he  created  in  Venezuela  and  the  adjacent  States  the  sub- 
ject is  one  of  considerable  interest. 

It  is  my  belief  that  had  the  Dictator  died  four 
years  ago,  when  for  the  first  time  the  serious  condition 
of  his  health  could  no  longer  be  concealed,  he 
would  have  died  relatively,  if  not  actually,  a  poor 
man. 

The  millions  he  is  accused  of  having  sordidly  banked 
in  Paris  were  actually  squandered  in  financing  revo- 
lutions in  Colombia,  in  subsidies  to  Indian  tribes  on  the 
Orinoco  and  in  the  Guianas,  and  in  paying  the  expenses 
of  a  horde  of  spies  and  conspirators  who  infested  all 
the  capitals  of  northern  South  America,  furthering 
the  dreams  of  their  ambitious  employer,  who,  by  fair 
means  or  foul,  sought  to  bring  about  a  union  of  some 
of  the  South  American  States  (a  revival  of  the  days 
when  Bolivar  ruled  in  Caracas,  Bogota,  and  Quito) 
under  his  presidency  and  dictatorship. 

Once  Reyes  became  President  of  Colombia  Castro 
recognised,  though  never  admitted,  the  folly  of  his 
larger  ambitions,  and  his  weakness  of  body  and  in- 
creasing ills  probably  convinced  him  of  his  mortality, 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  i6i 

which  in  happier,  more  vigorous  days  he  had  been  in- 
cHned  to  ignore,  if  not  to  deny. 

After  this  moment  of  clear  sight,  his  steahngs  were 
redoubled  and  the  monopolistic  tendencies  of  his 
regime  became  more  pronounced.  His  only  expendi- 
tures, except  in  the  matter  of  his  large  way  of  living, 
were  for  purposes  of  self-defence.  There  is  probably 
to-day  a  large  sum  of  money  at  his  disposal  in  a  Euro- 
pean bank,  but  the  $20,000,000  he  is  credited  with 
having  sent  abroad  to  pay  the  expenses  and  the  doc- 
tors' bills  of  his  exile  probably  could  be  divided  by 
ten  and  the  remainder  would  still  exceed  the  actual  sum 
at  his  disposal. 

I  dwell  on  these  internal  affairs  of  Venezuela  unduly 
it  may  appear,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  they  have  been 
absolutely  ignored  by  other  writers  and  that  they  have 
an  important  bearing  upon  the  international  features 
of  the  situation. 

Gomez  was  Castro's  logical  successor,  having  been 
his  partner  and  next  in  rank  in  all  his  adventures. 
Gomez  might  oppose  Castro  should  the  latter  return 
in  sound  mind  and  body  to  the  scene  of  his  national 
triumphs  and  his  international  disasters,  but  the  An- 
dean soldiers  probably  would  not.  And  should  Castro 
not  molest  his  successor,  Gomez,  a  hope  which  can  only 
be  indulged  in  in  the  case  of  his  continued  physical 
disability,  new  causes  of  friction  would  soon  arise. 

After  all,  it  is  not  an  individual,  neither  Castro  nor 
Gomez,  who  has  been  solely  responsible  for  the  de- 
plorable state  of  affairs,  but  the  lawless  freebooting 
troops  from  the  Andes,  who  now  as  then  are  in  the 
saddle  and  cannot  be  unhorsed  by  any  known  force 
within  the  confines  of  Venezuela. 


i62        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Gomez  has,  of  course,  learned  from  the  experience 
of  his  whilom  friend,  immediate  predecessor,  and 
patron  that  with  time  the  influence  of  the  civilised 
world  can  reach  and  coerce  a  bandit  though  he  be 
entrenched  behind  the  South  American  Sierras,  but  he 
could  not  if  he  would  change  the  system  of  exploiting 
the  peaceable  and  law-abiding  and  the  industrious  of 
the  country,  whether  natives  or  foreign  born,  which 
Castro  inaugurated.  If  he  did  so  his  hungry  sup- 
porters would  fall  away  from  him  and  flock  to  the 
banners  of  a  new  supreme  chief,  who  would  immedi- 
ately present  himself  with  methods  of  government 
tnore  in  accord  with  precedent  and  more  likely  to  prove 
popular  among  the  fighting  men. 

I  hate,  of  course,  to  be  responsible  for  this  one  dis- 
cordant note  in  the  general  chorus  of  gratification  and 
jubilation  with  which  the  apparent  overthrow  of  Castro 
has  been  received  by  the  civilised  world.  Yet  while  I 
admit  that  they  are  more  elastic  in  Venezuela  than  any- 
where else,  even  there  facts  are  stubborn  things. 

Now  for  a  few  glimpses  at  the  wonderful  career  of 
this  South  American  chief,  who,  whether  he  has  run 
his  course  or  not,  whether  his  race  is  done  or  only  be- 
gun, can  say,  "  I  have  made  a  great  noise  in  the  world, 
though  only  a  half-breed  from  the  mountains,  and  I 
have  killed  more  of  my  enemies  than  did  Ivan  the 
Terrible,  and  caused  as  great  a  destruction  of  human 
life  as  did  Francia,  whom  they  call  the  monster  of 
Paraguay." 

His  has  been  indeed  a  rapid,  meteoric  rise  to  power, 
and  face  to  face  with  some  of  the  well-nigh  incredible 
incidents  of  his  career,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he, 
with  much  superstitious  Indian  blood  coursing  in  his 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  163 

veins,  should  believe,  as  he  always  frankly  maintained, 
that  his  guiding  star  is  In  the  ascendant  and  that  all 
others  visible  from  the  Andean  fastnesses  are  but  satel- 
lites following,  humbly,  obedient  in  the  train  of  his 
supreme  constellation. 

Ten  years  ago,  when  the  exile  of  Santander  was 
about  forty  years  of  age,  there  were  at  least  fifty  self- 
styled  generals  in  the  republic  more  prominent  than  he. 
How,  Ignoring  the  etiquette  of  the  revolutionary  game, 
by  assassinations,  exiles,  and  imprisonments  he  thinned 
out  the  ranks  of  his  competitors  and  ruled  omnipotent 
over  a  subjugated  people,  is  the  wonderful  and,  as  he 
thinks,   starlit   story   of   General   CIprlano    Castro. 

In  1888,  indeed,  the  Andean  chieftain  was  not  only 
unknown,  comparatively  speaking,  but  his  first  essay  in 
public  life  as  Senator  to  the  Federal  Congress  from  El 
Tachira  had  been  a  dire  failure.  This  was  a  time  when 
the  kid-gloved  Paris-veneered  aristocracy  of  Venezuela 
was  in  power,  to  whom  the  boorishness  of  the  mountain 
Senator  was  laughable  when  not  repulsive. 

Of  his  appearance  in  the  forum  at  this  period  only 
a  personal  idiosyncrasy  is  remembered.  It  is  told  of 
him  that  when  sitting  down  to  his  desk  to  draft  a  bill 
or  engross  a  resolution  the  mountain  Senator  would 
always  take  off  his  shoes  and  put  on  his  black  kid  gloves, 
to  the  exquisite  delight  of  the  assemblage. 

He  also  evidently  feared  assassination  and  was 
secretive  in  regard  to  where  he  lived.  Like  the  other 
Andean  representatives  he  lodged  In  a  room  In  one  of 
the  humbler  caravansaries  of  Caracas,  where  simple 
refreshments  are  furnished  man  and  beast,  and  one 
night  In  one  apartment  and  the  next  in  another,  the 
Andean  group  of  representatives  would  take  their  rest, 


i64        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

squatting  on  the  floor  like  Indians  over  the  camp- 
fire. 

The  same  suspicious  habit  is  a  characteristic  of  the 
Andean  officers  in  the  Venezuelan  capital  to-day.  How- 
ever the  evening  has  been  spent,  upon  whatever  orgy 
they  may  have  been  engaged,  once  the  midnight  bells 
echo  through  the  city  the  Andean  braves  can  be  seen 
staggering  through  the  streets  to  the  sleeping  quarters 
they  occupy  much  in  common,  where  a  sentinel  watches 
by  night  or  day  while  they  sleep  off  the  effects  of  their 
debauchery.  No  one  who  knows  the  wrongs  the  classes 
in  Caracas  have  suffered  at  the  hands  of  these,  who, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  capital,  are  simply  foreign 
mercenaries,  and  who  recalls  the  proneness  of  the 
Venezuelan  to  seek  his  revenge  with  the  knife  of  the 
secret  assassin,  will  condemn  these  precautions  as  being 
wholly  unnecessary. 

W^ithin  a  year,  the  Federal  Congress  was  dis- 
missed by  Crespo,  and  Castro  rode  muleback  to  his 
mountain  home,  carrying  with  him  for  baggage  a  great 
hatred  of  Caracas  and  its  people,  particularly  of  the 
men  of  the  Matos  and  Guzman  Blanco  school, — who 
have  their  clothes  made  in  France,  their  manners  fash- 
ioned in  foreign  schools  and  universities,  who  are  called 
"  mousous,"  as  are  all  other  foreigners  by  the  Vene- 
zuelan peons, — by  whom  he  had  been  snubbed  or  at 
best  ignored.  Only  one  man  of  those  in  power  seems 
to  have  gauged  the  Andean  deputy  at  anything  like  a 
proper  valuation.  "  That's  a  man  who  Is  too  big  for 
his  skin,"  said  President  Crespo,  pointing  to  Castro, 
on  an  occasion  which  has  become  historic. 

This  grievance  against  the  metropolis  and  hatred  of 
the  men  who  shone   in   its  cosmopolitan  society  were 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  165 

assets  by  no  means  to  be  despised  when  we  examine  the 
pohtical  conditions  which  then  obtained  in  the  Andean 
provinces. 

For  several  generations  at  least  the  Andinos,  which- 
ever party  was  in  power,  had  been  unfairly  taxed  and 
grossly  exploited  by  the  politicians  of  the  capital.  This 
system  of  unfairness  is  said  to  have  arisen  as  far  back 
as  the  days  of  Bolivar  and  the  independence  war.  Then 
there  were  loyalists  in  Venezuela,  as  with  us  during  our 
Revolution,  and  the  ruthlessness  with  which  the  struggle 
was  waged  left  them  only  the  resource  of  emigration. 
A  great  number  of  the  loyal  Spaniards  fled  to  Porto 
Rico,  where  they  to-day  constitute  an  important  group 
of  the  most  influential  class.  Those  less  well  off,  or 
with  worldly  goods  which  could  ill  bear  transportation 
by  sea,  drove  their  cattle  and  their  sheep  inland  toward 
the  high  mountain  plateaus  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela, 
whose  pastoral  wealth  they  had  heard  described  by  the 
Indians. 

Many  of  these  pioneers  married  Indian  women,  as 
did,  undoubtedly,  the  emigrant  ancestors  of  both  Castro 
and  Gomez,  but  they  kept  their  blood  absolutely  free 
from  the  African  admixture,  which  cannot  be  said  of 
all  who  remained  behind  on  the  littoral  and  accepted 
the  republican  regime. 

The  settlers  in  the  Andes  were  left  alone  for  a  few 
years,  and  then  the  tax-gatherers  and  officials  appeared 
on  the  scene,  which  up  to  this  time  had  been  one  of 
Arcadian  simplicity  as  far  as  governmental  matters 
were  concerned.  Some  of  the  mountain  districts  were 
formed  into  federal  states,  some  into  territories,  but 
to  one  and  all  their  government  soon  came  to  be  one  of 
taxation  without  representation. 


i66        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Governors,  treasurers,  auditors,  and  all  the  higher 
federal  officers  were  spoilsmen  bent  upon  enriching 
themselves,  and,  indeed,  sent  out  from  Caracas  with 
that  purpose,  while  the  representatives  they  were  at 
times  allowed  in  Congress  were,  as  had  been  the  case 
with    Castro,   simply   ignored. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  but  for  the  memory  of 
these  generations  of  oppression  the  Andinos  would  not 
have  supplied  Castro  with  those  sturdy  mountaineers, 
those  short-swordsmen  who  have  proved  so  superior  to 
the  sons  of  the  hot  country  in  the  sharp  hand-to-hand 
conflicts  which  spell  war  in  Venezuela. 

Once  back  among  his  own  people  Castro  resumed  his 
usual  occupations  and  apparently  shunned  politics.  He 
may  have  occasionally  "  lifted  "  cattle  and  driven  them 
across  the  border  to  market,  and  at  the  buying  season 
he  certainly  hired  out  to  the  merchants  of  Maracaibo 
as  a  sampler  of  the  coffee  bean. 

Even  at  this  late  date  in  his  career,  and  after  hav- 
ing served  in  the  Federal  Congress  at  Caracas,  Castro 
could  never  quite  make  up  his  mind  whether  he  was  a 
Colombian  or  a  Venezuelan.  His  ranch  was  near  to, 
if  not  quite  on,  the  border  between  the  two  countries, 
and  he  had  dabbled  in  the  political  life  of  both.  Some 
think  that  Castro  played  this  waiting  game  because  he 
was  uncertain  which  country  offered  the  most  favour- 
able field  for  such  talents  as  he  possessed.  Ultimately 
it  was  the  tax  collector,  that  frequent  messenger  of 
fate,  w^io  decided  the  question,  and  Castro  came  out  in 
the  open  as  a  Venezuelan,  to  the  lasting  good  fortune 
of  Colombia. 

It  had  been  the  long-honoured  custom  of  the  Cristo- 
bal frontiersmen  to  avoid  the  tax  collector.    When  this 


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a. 
O 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  167 

obnoxious  individual  made  his  appearance  on  the 
Venezuelan  side,  Castro  and  his  worthy  neighbours 
would  drive  their  cattle  into  Colombia  and  let  them 
browse  about  and  "  rustle  "  until  that  unfortunate  func- 
tionary, tiring  of  frontier  fare,  would  return  to  the 
nearest  semi-civilised  town. 

When  the  Colombian  tax  collector  appeared  on  his 
side  of  the  border,  the  proceedings  of  the  tax  dodgers 
were  simply  reversed.  For  the  purpose  of  defrauding 
these  enemies  of  cattlemen  the  world  over  there  cer- 
tainly existed  a  treaty  of  amity  and  good  feeling  be- 
tween the  border  men  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela. 

But  a  day  of  reckoning  dawned  when  the  collectors 
of  the  two  countries  conspired  and  appeared  on  the 
border  at  the  same  time,  supported  by  considerable 
military  force.  Castro's  range  was  cleaned  up  by  the 
Venezuelan  police,  and  the  horrid  political  story  got 
into  circulation,  which  will  not  down,  that  there  were 
forty-one  separate  and  distinct  brands  found  on  the 
haunches  of  his  cattle. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  valuable  herd  was  confiscated, 
and  Castro,  having  left  to  him  no  other  means  of  live- 
lihood, raised  the  standard  of  open  revolt. 

Castro  is  nothing  if  not  picturesque,  and  of  course 
he  gave  the  affair  a  political  colouring.  He  said  he 
was  not  fighting  for  his  stolen  cows  (of  course  the 
stealing  he  referred  to  was  the  operation  the  tax  col- 
lectors classified  as  confiscation),  but  for  a  principle, 
and  his  neighbours  Hocked  to  his  standard  and  thun- 
dered grandiloquent  declarations  of  war  against  what 
they  denounced   as   an   "  outlander  government." 

Not  since  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  before  the  trumpet 
blast  have  men  gained  such  easy  victories  as  those  which 


i68        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

fell  like  ripe  fruit  into  the  hands  of  Castro  and  his 
straw-shod  companions.  Within  two  weeks  they  were 
in  possession  of  the  State  capital  and  Castro  was  unani- 
mously proclaimed  President  or  Governor  of  the  prov- 
ince. 

Caracas,  notified  of  what  had  happened,  immedi- 
ately acquiesced  in  the  result.  Probably  a  table  of  per- 
centages showing  the  relative  proportions  of  the  plunder 
and  how  it  was  to  be  divided  was  sent  on  to  Castro, 
the  new  broom,  but  it  is  quite  possible  that  this  formal- 
ity was  omitted  because  Caracas  was  busy  and  had  cares 
of  its  own  at  the  time. 

Senor  Ignacio  Andrade  was  President  at  this  moment, 
a  political  fluke  if  there  ever  was  one.  He  was  neither 
a  rich  man  nor  a  professional  bandit.  His  like  had  not 
received  presidential  honours  for  many  years  before  or 
since,  and  almost  immediately,  by  friend  and  foe  alike, 
his  selection  was  pronounced  a  mistake.  The  extenuat- 
ing circumstances  announced  by  the  political  managers 
of  the  republic  at  this  juncture  were  illuminating. 

Crespo,  they  said,  had  been  killed  most  unexpectedly, 
and  they  had  put  Andrade  in  as  a  stop-gap.  His 
reign  would  be  short,  but,  they  added,  it  would  give 
the  people  time  to  make  their  own  selection.  What 
they  really  meant  was  that  Andrade  could  be  thrown 
out  whenever  they  wanted  to  be  rid  of  him,  and  in  the 
meantime  they  could  hawk  the  presidential  office  about 
among  the  highest  bidding  candidates. 

Andrade  for  a  few  weeks  gave  a  clean,  honest  ad- 
ministration and  some  men  in  the  eastern  provinces  of 
the  republic  were  intelligent  enough  to  see  what  a 
pearl  of  a  man  had  fallen  before  undeserving  swine. 
The  military  junta  of  the  capital  were  pressing  the 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  169 

President  In  many  ways  and  for  many  impossible  things, 
and  it  had  become,  perhaps,  apparent  even  to  him  that 
he  must  either  resign  or  pass  over  the  real  power  and 
the  privilege  to  plunder  to  the  military  chieftains. 

A  suggestion  was  made  (President  Andrade's brother, 
who  was  Venezuelan  Minister  in  Washington  at  the 
time,  is  always  made  responsible  for  this  move  on  the 
part  of  the  peace-loving  President)  that  he  should  fight. 
Andrade  at  all  events  took  heart,  frowned  on  the  mili- 
tary junta,  and  some  of  the  best  people  in  the  land  came 
to  his  support,  with  contributions  of  money,  at  least, 
and  as  long  as  money  was  forthcoming  fighting  men,  it 
was  thought,  could  be  procured  from  the  eastern  states 
of  the  republic. 

This  most  unexpected  move,  of  course,  made  the  mili- 
tary chieftains  fairly  furious,  for,  though  military  men, 
they  did  not  care  to  go  to  war.  Besides,  these  Ori- 
entales,  even  when  fighting  simply  for  pay,  are  formi- 
dable. It  has  long  been  a  saying  in  Caracas  that  the 
only  troops  who  can  face  the  men  of  the  East  and  the 
Orinoco  plains  are  the  sturdy  Andinos  of  the  West. 

Under  these  circumstances,  and  with  this  knowledge 
common  to  all,  it  was  natural  that  the  attention  of  the 
military  junta,  who  wanted  to  expel  Andrade  without 
risking  a  single  one  of  their  precious  lives,  should  fall 
upon  the  new  chief,  Cipriano  Castro,  endeared  to  the 
Andinos  by  his  local  successes. 

No  sooner  thought  of  than  put  into  execution.  Cas- 
tro was  invited  to  leave  his  "  pent  up  Utica  "  in  the 
Andes  and  march  upon  the  federal  capital.  Of  course, 
assurances  of  support  were  given  him,  and  large  prom- 
ises made.  It  was  clear,  however,  to  every  one  in 
Caracas  at  the  time  that  the  purpose  of  the  military 


170        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

junta  was  simply  to  utilise  Castro  to  expel  Andrade. 
Once  this  was  accomplished,  they  expected  to  have  no 
difficulty  In  getting  rid  of  this  parvenu  adventurer  and 
his  company  of  boorish  mountaineers. 

It  was  an  enterprise  that  appealed  to  Castro's  spirit 
of  adventure,  a  gambler's  stroke  he  could  not  resist, 
though  many  of  his  neighbours  hesitated.  The  cattle- 
men were  for  the  most  part  comfortably  ensconced  in 
offices  which  seemed  good  to  them.  They  shouted 
"  Viva  Castro !  "  but  hung  back.  So  one  fine  morning, 
with  but  eighty  followers,  the  future  Dictator  started 
out  on  his  adventurous  ride,  and  there  followed  weeks 
upon  weeks  of  wilderness  fighting,  the  details  of  which 
have  escaped  history.  It  Is  known,  however,  that  as  he 
advanced  toward  the  capital — and  he  advanced  every 
day — Castro  opened  the  jails  and  received  the  adher- 
ence of  many  outlaws  and  bandits. 

At  last  Castro  turned  up  with  a  broken  leg  and  a  dis- 
located shoulder,  it  is  true,  but  still  in  the  saddle,  with 
some  600  hardened  ruffians  behind  him,  and  sat  down 
before  the  rich  city  of  Valencia,  which  General  Ferrer, 
later  to  become  Minister  of  War,  held  with  a  well- 
armed  force  of  6,000  men. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  but  that  which  is  insepa- 
rable from  all  military  encounters,  that  Ferrer  and 
his  men  could  have  annihilated  Castro,  but  they  never 
tried  to  do  so.  Andrade  was  not  magnetic  and  had 
forbidden  looting  of  every  description  and  promised 
his  soldiers  nothing  but  their  pay.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances it  was  perhaps  natural  that  General  Ferrer 
should  welcome  a  conference  which  resulted  In  what 
they  call  in  the  political  parlance  of  the  country  a 
"transaction."     The    following    day    one    detail    of 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  171 

this  was  apparent,  though  there  were  other  clauses 
held  secret  for  months,  Ferrer  marched  out  with  his 
6,000  men,  handed  over  the  city  entrusted  to  his 
keeping,  and  fell  in  behind  the  little  army  of  adven- 
turers. 

But  in  more  ways  than  one  Ferrer  was  useful.  He 
gave  the  cattlemen  a  large  and  disciplined  force,  though 
one  certainly  not  likely  to  inspire  a  high  degree  of 
confidence,  but  even  more  valuable  than  this  was  his 
sonorous  battle-cry,  which  covered  a  multitude  of  sordid 
desires.  The  day  after  the  "  transaction  "  the  further 
journey  toward  the  capital  was  begun  by  the  amal- 
gamated armies,  and  upon  their  yellow  banners  were 
now  emblazoned  the  soul-lifting  words,  "  God  and  the 
Federation." 

With  banners  before  him  and  something  like  a  regu- 
lar army  behind  him,  Castro,  politically  speaking  at 
least,  was  no  longer  a  mere  cattle  thief,  but  a  person- 
age, even  a  presidential  possibility,  though  the  mere 
suggestion  of  it  until  some  weeks  later  made  the  profes- 
sional administration  men  and  time-servers  in  the  capital 
laugh  with  scorn. 

At  last  the  invading  host  from  the  west  reached  La 
Victoria,  a  mountain  pass  which  is  generally  regarded 
as  the  key  to  the  possession  of  the  capital.  There 
Castro  found  General  Mendoza  strongly  entrenched 
and  immediately  followed  his  example. 

Don  Luciano  Mendoza,  who  now  appears  on  the 
scene,  was  quite  a  character  in  Venezuelan  politics  and 
widely  known  as  the  introducer  of  Presidents.  He  was  a 
grizzled,  venal  old  warhorse,  whose  boast  was  that  he 
would  stay  bought  as  long  as  there  was  any  sense  in  so 
doing  or  anything  to  be  gained  by  it.    When  he  saw  he 


172        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

could  not  tempt  Castro  out  of  his  works  Don  Luciano 
charged  him. 

He  had  expected  to  make  this  desperate  attack, 
assisted  to  some  extent  at  least  by  a  heavy  cannonading 
from  all  his  guns,  which  he  had  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  young  Alcantara,  who,  I  regret  to  have  to  say 
it,  had  been  admitted  to  our  military  school  at  West 
Point  in  1896  as  the  son  of  a  former  President  of  the 
republic  and  studied  there  some  years,  even  if  he  did  not 
graduate.  These  educational  advantages,  of  course,  gave 
Alcantara  great  prestige  among  the  rough-and-ready 
straw-sandalled  soldiers  of  Venezuela,  but  he  tarnished 
it  and  proved  altogether  unworthy  of  his  Alma  Mater 
this  day. 

Don  Luciano  made  his  driving  charge  upon  the 
breastworks  of  Castro's  men,  but  to  his  amazement  not 
a  gun  supported  him.  Thirty  per  cent,  of  his  infantry 
never  came  back  from  in  front  of  the  entrenchments 
which  they  failed  to  carry. 

But  Don  Luciano  came  back  out  of  the  fray  without 
serious  wounds  and  his  eye  to  the  main  chance  widely 
opened.  He  sent  a  messenger  to  Castro  bearing  his 
respectful  compliments  and  an  expression  of  his  respect- 
ful homage  and  admiration  to  Alcantara,  who  now  ap- 
peared on  the  other  side  of  the  battlefield  with  his  guns 
going  into  battery  behind  Castro's  lines. 

That  evening  the  generals  met  between  their  re- 
spective lines,  and  a  conference  was  held,  which  soon 
lost  all  semblance  of  formality.  It  warmed  up  into  a 
banquet  if  it  did  not  degenerate  into  a  wild  carouse,  as 
many  assert.  On  the  morning,  however,  Don  Luciano 
showed  that  he,  at  least,  had  kept  a  fairly  cool  head 
upon  his  shoulders. 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  173 

To  begin  with  he  declared  an  armistice,  and  soon  the 
soldiers  of  Andrade  were  fraternising  with  the  cattle- 
men from  the  west,  as  their  chiefs  had  done  the  night 
before.     Don  Luciano  sent  a  telegram  to  his  chief: 

"  The  voice  of  the  people,  which  I,  too,  must  heed 
as  a  patriotic  Venezuelan,  has  pronounced  against  your 
Excellency,"  he  wrote.  "  Also,  the  fortune  of  war  has 
proved  adverse." 

Then,  overpunctilious  as  ever,  Don  Luciano  placed 
a  special  train  at  President  Andrade's  disposal,  and  a 
leaky  gunboat  and  a  trifle  of  forty-eight  hours  within 
which,  if  he  wished  to  escape  unscathed,  he  could  avail 
himself  of  them  both;  and  it  is  related  that  when  the 
clock  over  by  the  Caracas  church,  which  the  English 
freebooters  of  the  seventeenth  century  so  frequently 
sacked,  struck  the  dirge  of  the  forty-ninth  hour  Don 
Luciano,  true  to  his  role  and  punctual  to  the  minute, 
introduced  the  people  of  Caracas  to  their  new  President 
and  Castro  to  his  new  home,  the  Yellow  House. 

Castro's  advent  to  power  was  for  a  few  days  sup- 
ported by  the  military  junta,  who  had  brought  for- 
ward one  whom  they  regarded  as  an  unsophisticated 
savage  from  the  Andes,  as  a  huge  joke.  No  one 
thought  the  cattleman  would  stay  in  power  a  month. 
The  general  expectation  was  perhaps  best  voiced  by  the 
departing  President,  Andrade,  who  returned  the  gun- 
boat to  Castro  from  Trinidad  with  the  friendly  advice 
to  have  its  seams  caulked  and  its  engines  immediately 
overhauled  against  the  day  of  his  own  need. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  a  few  days,  or  at  most 
weeks,  sufficed  to  make  it  plain  to  any  but  the  most 
dense  that  in  pushing  forward  Into  prominence  the 
man  from  the  Colombian  border  the  plotters  and  plun- 


174        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

derers  of  the  capital  had  brought  to  light  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  unscrupulous  of  the  many  banditti  that 
Venezuelan  politics  had  ever  produced,  and  one  by  one 
these  men  have  long  since  paid  the  penalty  of  their 
imprudence. 

The  leaders  of  the  junta,  the  professional  revolu- 
tionists of  the  corrupt  capital,  were  soon  lodged,  not 
in  comfortable  offices  but  in  damp  cells  of  infamous 
dungeons.  Only  Alcantara  and  Don  Luciano  of  all  the 
men  of  the  past  regime  continued  to  bask  in  the  sun- 
light from  the  throne. 

For  the  most  part  Castro  surrounded  himself  with 
men  who  were  new  from  the  standpoint  of  the  capital, 
though  they  were  old  cronies  and  compadres  of  his 
from  the  Andes,  with  a  few  other  stray  adventurers, 
such  as  another  Mendoza,  not  to  be  confounded  with 
Don  Luciano,  who  had  obliged  him  with  a  mule  at  a 
certain  critical  stage  in  his  adventurous  ride,  and  who 
was  rewarded  with  the  Treasury  portfolio,  and  the 
stout  Carlo  of  Valencia,  a  breezy  gossip,  who  for  six 
years,  until  apoplexy  took  him  off,  presided  with  great 
dignity  and  some  knowledge  of  intoxicants  over  the 
President's  military  house. 

When  he  had  been  proclaimed  constitutional  Presi- 
dent and  had  filled  the  prisons  with  such  men  as  he 
feared  might  prove  formidable,  Castro  cast  the  cares 
of  office  to  the  winds  and  set  about  enjoying  himself 
and  drinking  to  the  dregs  the  pleasures  which  Caracas 
offers  to  the  frontiersman. 

Perhaps  the  Dictator's  private  life  is  sufficiently  well 
known,  and  I  will  merely  say  before  passing  on  to  the 
political  side  of  the  picture  that  the  feudal  lords  of  old 
claimed,  over  the  bodies  and  the  souls  of  their  serfs, 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  i75 

no  right  which  Castro  did  not  exercise  daily  over  the 
unfortunate  men  and  women  of  the  Venezuelan  capital. 

It  was  equally  incredible  that  the  private  and  per- 
sonal crimes  which  he  committed  should  have  been  al- 
lowed to  go  unpunished  by  the  men  of  a  high-spirited 
nation,  especially  as  Castro  always  rode  boldly  about 
inadequately  guarded,  and  that  his  slight  nervous 
frame  should  have  so  long  withstood  the  inevitable  con- 
sequences of  the  debauchery  in  which  his  days  and 
nights  were  spent. 

However,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  all  through  the 
days  of  the  European  blockade  and  the  still  more  stir- 
ring times  of  the  Matos  rebellion  Castro  was  able  to 
meet  every  emergency  of  the  critical  moments  of  his 
career  with  a  clear  mind  and  unflagging  energy. 

Several  of  the  half-hearted  defenders  of  the  Castro 
regime,  and  a  few  such  there  are,  say  that,  after  all, 
the  friction  which  has  resulted  in  the  almost  complete 
ostracism  of  Castro  by  the  civilised  world  has  arisen 
over  the  claims  of  foreign  concession  hunters,  whose 
morality  and  observance  of  the  law  are  no  more  ad- 
mirable than  are  those  of  the  Andean  Dictator.  After 
all,  it  is  asserted,  these  men  Invested  their  money  in 
this  country  with  full  knowledge  of  the  conditions  ob- 
taining there,  and  several  of  them  in  advance  committed 
themselves  to  the  position  of  promising  to  seek  no  re- 
dress for  their  wrongs,  real  or  fancied,  except  at  the 
hands  of  the  Venezuelan  courts.  These  advocates  of 
Castro,  or  at  least  of  non-intervention  and  failure  to 
protect  our  citizens  and  our  Interests,  say  that  It  Is  a 
case  which  Is  well  covered  by  the  old  axiom  of  inter- 
national law,  which  reads,  "  Let  the  Investor  beware 
or  take  the  consequences  of  his  rashness." 


176        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

This  mode  of  reasoning  sounds  well,  but  it  is  not 
in  accord  with  the  facts.  When  the  American  conces- 
sions which  have  now  been  confiscated  or  are  disputed 
were  made  there  were  courts  in  Caracas  which  com- 
manded confidence,  and  Castro  has  abolished  them  or 
changed  their  personnel  without  observing  the  due 
processes  of  the  law  in  so  doing.  After  the  Castro 
regime  had  been  in  charge  of  the  country  for  a  year, 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  land,  in  the  performance 
of  its  duties  as  laid  down  by  law,  visited  the  Caracas 
jail  to  investigate  the  conditions  there.  They  were  of 
course  found  to  be  appalling.  Hundreds  of  unfortu- 
nate men  and  women  were  found  to  be  living  there 
under  conditions  which  a  Chinese  leper  would  have 
resented. 

It  was  found  that  200  men,  mostly  common  crimi- 
nals, who  had  been  duly  committed  to  the  jail  by 
sentence  of  the  courts,  had  been  allowed  to  walk  out, 
while  over  100  men  were  found  in  prison  against  whom 
no  charge  had  ever  been  made.  The  members  of  the 
court  were  summoning  up  the  courage  necessary,  and 
under  the  conditions  prevailing  this  step  required  cour- 
age, to  make  representations  to  the  Dictator,  when  sud- 
denly they  found  themselves  removed  from  their  high 
offices  by  a  presidential  order,  which  was  of  course 
wholly  illegal. 

The  Bar  Association  of  Caracas  met,  and  after  veri- 
fying the  facts  as  stated  above  every  member  pledged 
himself  not  to  accept  the  positions  which  had  been 
vacated  in  such  an  illegal  manner.  This  attitude  did 
them  honour,  but  in  the  sequel  proved  quite  unneces- 
sary. Castro  filled  the  vacancies  with  his  cronies,  men 
for  the  most  part  without  the  slightest  legal  training 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  177 

or  standing  in  the  community.  One  was  a  barber,  an- 
other a  mule  driver.  When  summoned  to  preside  over 
the  highest  courts  in  the  land  they  purchased  law  books 
for  the  first  time.  During  the  blockade  of  the  Vene- 
zuelan ports  in  the  winter  of  1903  some  uneasiness  was 
manifested  in  Washington  as  to  the  fairness  and  the 
legality  of  this  court,  against  which  the  powers  had 
protested  repeatedly  before  they  were  compelled  to 
take  forcible  measures  for  redress.  Castro  saw 
that  he  must  act  quickly  to  bolster  up  the  prestige  of 
his  court,  and  he  did  so  in  a  clever,  characteristic 
way. 

An  American  claim  for  breach  of  contract  against  the 
Venezuelan  government  had  been  before  the  courts  for 
ten  years.  The  claimant  was  long  since  dead,  and  the 
claim  was  regarded  as  without  value.  But  Castro  fished 
it  out  of  the  dockets  and  cabled  Washington  that  the 
full  damages  claimed,  with  interest,  had  been  awarded 
three  days  before.  The  Supreme  Court,  obedient  to 
the  Dictator's  will,  had  rendered  this  decision.  These 
incidents,  which  might  easily  be  duplicated  a  thousand- 
fold, will  suffice,  I  think,  to  justify  the  extreme  want  of 
confidence  which  all  foreign  litigants  show  in  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Venezuelan  courts  as  at  present  con- 
stituted. 

The  other  charge  which  the  partisans  of  Castro 
bring  has  much  more  foundation  in  fact.  The  accusa- 
tion is  that  during  the  Matos  rebellion  all  the  foreigners 
aided  the  Matos  forces  with  men,  money,  arms,  and 
information.  These  charges  have  never  been  proved 
by  evidence  that  would  stand  scrutiny,  but  here  at  least 
there  is  some  basis  in  fact.  In  three  years  Castro  had 
hampered,  and,  indeed,  in  many  instances,  as  in  the 


178        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

asphalt  concession,  absolutely  ruined  every  enterprise  In 
the  land  conducted  by  foreigners. 

Then  Matos,  an  honest  man  of  good  antecedents, 
and  with  the  best  blood  In  the  country  flowing  through 
his  veins,  made  his  bid  for  the  presidency  in  the  revo- 
lutionary way,  the  only  way,  owing  to  the  utter  defiance 
of  the  electoral  laws  by  the  usurping  cattle  thief,  that 
was  open  to  him.  Matos  failed  because  he  was  not  a 
rnan  of  war,  and  during  the  last  four  years  of  his  presi- 
dency Castro  devoted  himself  to  the  punishment  of 
those  whom  he  suspected,  undoubtedly  with  some  rea- 
son, of  having  aided  or  abetted  his  unsuccessful  rival. 

Castro's  contempt  for  the  judiciary  has  been  doubt- 
less amply  illustrated,  but  there  is  one  instance  at  least 
where  he  came  forward  with  an  amusing  defence  of  his 
Judges.  Comments  of  President  Roosevelt  in  a  mes- 
sage to  Congress  not  at  all  complimentary  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Venezuelan  courts  reached  the  ears  of  Cas- 
tro promptly,  and  he  retaliated  with  an  avalanche  of 
abuse  directed  at  President  Roosevelt,  published  in  his 
personal  organ. 

Some  months  later,  however,  when  President  Roose- 
velt criticised  several  decisions  made  by  Judges  of  our 
own  Federal  courts  Castro  published  broadcast  through 
his  land  a  statement  which  he  evidently  regarded  as 
an  amende  honorable. 

*'  We  are  now  forced  to  take  quite  a  different  view 
of  the  criticisms  of  our  courts  which  fell  from  the  lips 
of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  great  Republic  of  the 
north  only  a  few  weeks  ago,"  he  wrote.  "  Since  he 
addresses  the  same  contemptuous  language  to  the 
Judges  of  his  own  courts,  the  outbreak  against  our  up- 
right bench  which  we  deplored  was  perhaps  not  actu- 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  179 

ated  by  Ignorance  and  by  race  prejudice,  as  at  the  time 
we  were  inclined  to  believe.  In  attacking  all  courts, 
whether  American  or  Venezuelan,  President  Roosevelt 
demonstrates  that  he  is  suffering  from  the  anti-court 
mania,  which  is,  we  understand,  a  form  of  madness 
recognised  and  regularly  classified  by  Lombroso  and 
other  alienists," 

With  Congress,  the  other  co-ordinate  branch  of  the 
government,  Castro's  relations  were  even  more  un- 
usual than  they  were  with  the  subservient  Judges.  For 
the  first  four  years  of  his  rule  Castro  simply  foamed 
at  the  mouth  when  the  word  Congress  was  mentioned, 
chiefly,  it  is  thought, — since  they  certainly  had  no  idea 
of  thwarting  his  plans, — because  among  the  legislators 
there  were  some  who  had  witnessed  with  unfeeling  com- 
posure the  humiliations  the  Dictator  had  suffered  as 
Senator. 

When,  however,  the  hosts  of  Matos  were  gathering, 
and  the  outlook  for  a  continuance  of  the  Andean 
Regency  seemed  dark,  it  was  pointed  out  to  Castro  that 
it  might  be  a  politic  move  if  he  should,  at  least  on  one 
single  occasion,  welcome  the  members  of  the  Congress  to 
the  Miraflores  palace.  The  Dictator  accepted  the  sug- 
gestion amiably,  and  the  audience  was  fixed  for  a  certain 
afternoon  at  two  o'clock,  the  most  "  pernicious  "  hour, 
as  the  people  of  Caracas  truly  say,  for  calling,  or  any 
other  function  which  entails  exposure  to  the  sun.  At 
the  appointed  hour  on  the  long-heralded  day  the  men  of 
the  august  body  attended  In  the  great  patio  and  awaited 
the  Dictator's  pleasure. 

They  waited  In  vain  for  two  hours,  and  were  then 
curtly  dismissed  by  a  lackey,  who  told  them  that  Gen- 
eral Castro  did  not  propose  to  receive  them. 


i8o        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

I  first  saw  Castro  on  the  battlefield  of  La  Victoria, 
forty-eight  hours  after  his  notable  victory  had  been 
achieved.  I  left  Caracas  in  the  fogs  and  chill  airs  which 
early  In  the  morning  always  have  the  capital  in  their 
embrace,  and  in  four  hours  we  had  run  down  into  the 
torrid  heat,  and  the  dazzling  sunlight  of  the  "  hot  coun- 
try," where  rubber  plants  and  tropical  ferns  thrive. 

For  three  weeks  the  battle  for  the  possession  of  the 
pass,  the  only  practicable  entrance  to  Caracas  coming 
from  the  west,  had  been  waged  with  great  ferocity 
and  with  equal  determination  on  both  sides.  But  in 
the  matter  of  generalship  the  odds  were  In  favour  of 
Castro  and  his  men — as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  had  to 
be,  or  else  a  battle  would  not  have  been  possible,  as  the 
invading  army  under  General  Matos  outnumbered  Cas- 
tro's cohorts  at  least  three  to  one. 

But  through  the  rivalries  and  jealousy  of  what  might 
be  called  General  Matos'  corps  commanders,  these 
advantages  in  numbers  and  other  even  greater  advan- 
tages in  the  matter  of  armament  and  equipment  were 
cancelled.  Early  in  his  campaign  Matos  had  shown 
that  he  was  quite  unfitted  for  an  active  command  in  a 
tropical  war,  fought  out  over  such  a  country  as  this  was, 
and  soon  the  control  and  the  actual  direction  of  the 
army  passed  into  the  hands  of  his  young  lieutenants. 

All  might,  even  under  these  circumstances,  have  gone 
well  for  the  multimillionaire  and  diplomat  who  found 
himself  by  the  Irony  of  fate  and  the  whirligig  of  politics 
called  upon  to  lead  an  army  through  a  jungle  country, 
had  his  lieutenants  worked  together  In  the  common 
cause.  But,  unfortunately  they  had  been  quick  to  see 
that  under  the  circumstances  the  man  who  became  the 
General's  striking  arm,  who  gained  for  him  the  victory 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  i8i 

in  the  field,  could  easily  appropriate  to  himself  com- 
plete dominance  of  military  affairs,  which  in  Vene- 
zuela are  the  most  profitable,  once  peace  had  been  de- 
clared. So  each  lieutenant  went  in  to  win  for  himself 
the  prize,  leaving  the  other  corps  commanders  to  their 
own  devices. 

One  after  another  they  went  up  against  Castro's  en- 
trenchment and  one  after  another  they  were  driven 
back  with  heavy  losses.  When  at  last  Matos  was  able 
to  bring  about  something  like  concerted  action  and  a 
joint  attack,  it  was  too  late  and  the  movement  resulted 
in  another  disaster — the  Andinos  behind  entrenchments 
held  their  own,  punished  the  soldiers  of  Matos  severely, 
and  suffered  but  slight  losses  themselves. 

Castro  was  in  and  out  among  his  men  day  and  night, 
and  by  his  personal  prestige  would  possibly  have 
turned  the  scales  sooner  had  it  not  been  for  what  he 
called,  and  called  truly,  the  enemy  in  his  rear. 

This  was  the  people  of  the  capital,  who  were  as  one 
man  partisans  of  Matos.  Time  and  again  Castro  was 
called  back  from  the  trenches  by  Gomez,  whom  he  had 
left  in  charge  of  the  city.  It  seemed  on  several  occa- 
sions that  the  Vice-President's  fears  were  justified  and 
that  Caracas  was  about  to  depart  from  its  traditional 
attitude  of  cultured  reserve  and  take  part  in  the  civil 
strife. 

Castro  in  this  emergency  acted  with  his  accustomed 
energy  and  despatch.  He  filled  the  prisons  with  sus- 
pects and  the  uneasy  spirits  of  the  capital,  and  then, 
when  darkness  came,  he  robbed  Gomez  of  all  his  troops, 
even  of  his  policemen,  with  the  exception  of  a  corporal's 
guard,  and  under  cover  of  night  he  took  the  train  back 
to  La  Victoria,  which  he  reached  before  morning. 


i82        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

The  sight  of  a  reinforcement  of  some  4,000  men, 
all  Andinos,  though  many  of  them  were  only  armed 
with  cutlasses,  cheered  the  hearts  of  the  soldiers  who 
had  been  so  long,  and  apparently  so  hopelessly,  block- 
aded in  their  trenches. 

Opposite  to  them,  and  lower  down  the  valley,  lay  the 
army  of  Matos  in  three  distinct  and  separate  camps. 

Castro  looked  over  the  scene,  took  in  the  situation, 
and  then,  as  usual,  his  mind  was  quickly  made  up. 
Shortly  before  daylight  he,  with  his  men,  slid  over  their 
trenches  and  attacked  the  opposing  camps  in  detail, 
with  such  success  that  by  noon  Matos  himself  was  a 
fugitive  riding  for  his  life  and  his  army  had  ceased  to 
exist. 

When  at  this  juncture  I  came  into  La  Victoria  I 
found  every  one  busy  in  doing  honour  to  Castro  and 
in  making  his  triumph  as  brilliant  as  possible,  for  the 
good  reason  that  if  they  did  not  bestir  themselves  they 
were  liable  to  be  lodged  in  jail,  as  not  a  few  had  been, 
with  some  fifty-  or  sixty-pound  chains  clinging  closely 
about  their  necks,  arms,  and  legs.  Every  street  was 
spanned  with  triumphal  arches  and  every  house  was 
covered  with  loyal  banners  and  inscriptions.  Upon 
every  corner  a  negro  band  of  some  description  was 
playing. 

Every  man  wore  about  his  hat  a  band  inscribed, 
"  Viva  Castro,  the  hero  of  Victoria.  Long  live  God 
and  the  Federation."  And  yet  it  was  all  lip  service  and 
politic  disguise. 

For  all  their  loyal  bunting  and  loud  "  vivas "  every 
man  and  woman  I  met  in  La  Victoria  sooner  or  later 
uttered  the  wish,  which  they  evidently  considered  a 
pious  one,  that  God  would  give  some  one  the  courage 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  183 

to  knife  the  Dictator  to  whose  licentiousness  no  home 
was  sacred. 

Shortly  after  noon  I  reached  military  headquarters, 
which  had,  of  .course,  been  pitched  in  the  best  house  of 
the  town,  and  there  I  found  the  leader  and  supreme 
chief  of  all  the  elements  of  peace  and  of  the  liberal 
restoration  asleep  and  snoring  on  the  couch. 

The  atmosphere  was  filled  with  the  sickening  fumes 
of  aguardiente,  which  was  then  the  plebeian  tipple  in 
which  Castro  preferred  to  have  his  libations.  Since 
these,  the  days  of  his  uncouth  debut,  however,  he  has 
been  educated  by  the  rum  demon  up  to  champagne  and 
Chambertin,  and  even  to  absinthe  and  other  more  in- 
sidious liquors. 

The  prospect  of  an  exchange  of  views  with  the 
General  on  the  topics  of  the  day  seemed  dark,  but  Gen- 
eral Alcantara  said:  "You  do  not  know  how  quickly 
the  General  recovers.     Come  back  in  two  hours." 

I  came  and  then  and  there  first  saw  the  great  man 
plain.  On  the  whole,  first  impressions  were  disappoint- 
ing. He  is  small,  barely  five  feet  three  in  height.  He 
is  lame,  the  result  of  his  leap  from  the  second  story 
of  the  palace  of  Miraflores  when  the  great  earthquake 
came,  and,  what  is  most  unusual  in  a  South  American, 
he  is  quite  bald. 

To  cover  up  this  disfigurement,  Castro  wears,  sleep- 
ing or  awake,  a  green  cap  heavily  embroidered  with 
gold  and  with  a  gold  tassel  hanging  down  behind,  and 
sometimes  before,  getting  mixed  up  with  his  heavy  black 
beard  and  producing  altogether  a  most  comical  effect. 
The  General  was  alert  and  wide  awake,  but  his  head 
was  evidently  almost  too  heavy  for  him  to  support,  and 
as  I  was  ushered  in  I  found  him  nursing  his  bruised  feet 


i84        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

in  his  lap.  We  who  are  trained  to  our  servitude  in  earli- 
est infancy  cannot  appreciate  what  it  is  to  begin  wearing 
shoes  at  forty.  This  was  Castro's  plight,  and,  of  course, 
Venezuelan  shoes  are  of  the  most  unrelenting  sort. 

For  an  hour  the  little  man  talked  and  with  great 
vivacity  upon  a  number  of  subjects.  His  gratitude  to 
Mr.  Bowen,  our  Minister,  who  was  endeavouring  to 
get  him  out  of  his  diplomatic  tangle  and  to  raise  the 
starving  blockade,  he  expressed  effectively  by  silence 
and  by  placing  his  hand  on  his  heart. 

"  It  is  a  sacred  obligation  upon  me  and  upon  all 
Venezuelans,"  he  protested. 

Two  months  later  he  and  a  number  of  other  Vene- 
zuelans, who  should  have  known  better,  were  calumni- 
ating the  man  who  was  their  friend  when  all  the  world 
was  hostile  or  indifferent. 

Castro  planned  and  assiduously  worked  for  a  union 
of  the  northern  republics  of  South  America  under  his 
dictatorship,  but  failed.  His  unsuccessful  invasion  of 
Colombia  was  the  most  open  manifestation  of  this  plan, 
from  which  he  has  never  swerved.  His  diplomatic 
plots  to  bring  about  this  result  have  also  failed  signally, 
leaving  the  Dictator  an  embittered  man  and  ready  for 
any  enterprise  however  daring  and  hazardous,  if  it  but 
contain  the  slightest  promise  of  the  grandiose  results 
of  which  he  dreams. 

Recently,  from  his  place  of  refuge  in  the  Canary 
Islands,  he  has  characterised  his  regime  as  the  Gobierno 
Restaurador,  or  the  "  restorative  government."  In  ex- 
planation of  this  term  he  has  announced  in  many 
speeches  that  while  Bolivar  conquered  and  drove  away 
the  Spaniards,  the  cosmopolitan  companies  and  the 
foreign  business  men  who  have  flocked  to  Venezuela 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  185 

and  taken  control  of  the  country,  are  imposing  a  yoke 
as  hard  to  bear  as  that  of  the  Spaniards. 

"  They  are  much  better  armed,  stronger  in  men  and 
money  than  were  the  enemies  of  Bolivar,"  was  one  of 
the  Dictator's  last  utterances,  "  but  I  shall  drive  them 
out  and  not  rest  content  until  the  economic  life  as  well 
as  the  political  administration  of  the  country  is  in  native 
hands.  My  dream  is  to  regenerate  the  republics  of  the 
north  of  South  America  by  uniting  them  against  the 
barbarians  of  Europe  and  the  other  America." 

This  was  rather  ungrateful  of  the  man  whom  eight 
years  ago,  unwisely  it  has  always  seemed  to  me,  we 
saved  from  the  consequences  of  his  high-handed  acts, 
seeing  to  it  that  he  had  his  day  in  the  high  court  of 
The  Hague,  with  Mr.  Bowen,  the  able  American  Minis- 
ter, as  his  advocate. 

In  Caracas,  Valencia,  and  in  Puerto  Cabello  I  have 
frequently  met  with  men  who  had  achieved  university 
honours  at  Oxford,  in  Paris,  or  at  Heidelberg  and 
Bonn.  They  were  well-read,  charming  conversation- 
alists and  companions,  but  with  no  exceptions  they 
were  most  ineffective  citizens.  My  relations  with  one 
of  these  cosmopolitan  citizens  of  Caracas  were  such 
that  on  one  occasion  I  ventured  to  point  out  that,  after 
all,  as  they  made  not  the  slightest  effort  to  bear  the 
burdens  of  citizenship,  he  and  those  who  remained  in- 
active with  him  probably  deserved  no  better  fate  than 
was  theirs,  that  of  being  ruled  with  great  cruelty  and 
severity  by  successive  crews  of  barbarians. 

"  I  think  conditions  are  quite  different  down  here, 
and  your  criticism  is  unjust,"  was  his  reply.  "  In  the 
United  States  the  voter  who  sometimes  can  neither 
read  nor  write  cancels  by  his  ballot  the  vote  of  the  col- 


i86        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

lege  president  or  some  other  leader  of  great  parts,  and 
I  could  acquiesce  in  tliat.  But  down  here  the  periodic 
revolutions  take  the  place  of  your  presidential  elections, 
and  according  to  your  ideas  of  civic  virtue  I  should 
allow  myself  to  be  pitted  against  the  barefooted  bandit 
of  the  plains  and  see  that  my  bullet  goes  home. 

"  I  say  the  struggle  is  an  unfair  one  and  decline  the 
challenge.  The  bandit  is  a  better  man  than  I  am  in  the 
jungle  and  in  the  mountains,  and  I  admit  it.  Conse- 
quently I  have  adopted  a  policy  which  is  simply  one  of 
self-preservation.  In  so  far  as  that  is  possible,  I  stand 
in  with  all  parties.  Whenever  a  revolution  is  started 
I  send  presents  as  rich  as  I  can  afford  to  the  new  chief, 
who  may  prove  a  winner;  at  the  same  time  I  strengthen 
myself  with  the  actual  chief  by  as  stout  a  contribution 
as  the  condition  of  my  strong-box  affords.  So  the  new 
men  come  and  go,  they  rob  me  and  deprive  me  of  my 
best  farms,  but  I  survive,  and  a  change  may  come,  but 
not  initiated  by  us.  We  want  the  intervention  of  some 
civilised  power.  One  of  my  cousins  prays  every  day  for 
intervention,  even  the  intervention  of  the  devil,  as  he 
puts  it;  but,  after  all,  the  Monroe  Doctrine  stands  in 
the  way  of  any  civilised  people  other  than  you  Ameri- 
cans of  the  north  taking  pity  on  our  plight,  and  we  are 
surely  drifting  back  to  the  level  of  Hayti  and  the  Congo. 
When  we  get  there  you  will  wake  up  and  intervene  in 
a  situation  for  which  in  part  at  least  you  are  responsible. 

"  Forty  years  ago  my  grandfather  owned  lands  which 
covered  an  extent  of  territory  greater  than  several  of 
your  smaller  states.  On  these  lands  10,000  people 
lived,  and  our  coffee  was  fought  for  on  the  Amsterdam 
and  the  London  Exchanges,  To-day,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  nearby  farms,  this  vast  estate  is  a  wilderness  in 
which  wild  animals  and  still  wilder  men  have  their 
lairs. 

"  I  would  no  more  think  of  showing  myself  on  those 
lands  where  my  grandfather  ruled  than  I  would  think 
of  taking  prussic  acid.  The  only  safety  for  a  landed 
proprietor  is  when  his  estates  are  grown  up.  with  weeds 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  187 

and  jungle  brush — then  the  new  flight  of  adventurers 
which  follow  every  successive  '  supreme  chief  '  will  not 
cast  covetous  eyes  upon  them. 

"  When  Castro  came  in  I  had  a  suggestive  misad- 
venture of  this  kind.  One  of  his  Andino  lieutenants 
liked  the  looks  of  a  little  hacienda  which  I  kept  in  fair 
shape  near  the  city.  I  had  contributed  money  and  am- 
munition to  the  Castro  campaign  fund,  and  when  this 
fellow  came  and  offered  me  about  one-third  what  the 
place  was  worth  I  declined  curtly. 

"  Then  Castro  intervened.  He  was  more  amiable 
than  he  has  often  shown  himself  to  be  on  similar  occa- 
sions. He  remembered  my  opportune  contribution  of 
ammunition  and  cash,  but  he  said  that '  Pepito,'  his  coun- 
tryman from  the  Andes,  had  set  his  heart  on  the  place, 
and  to  avoid  friction  and  trouble  I  had  better  let  him 
have  it  at  his  price. 

"  I  did  so.  I  gave  Pepito  the  title  deeds  and  he  gave 
me  his  '  pagarito  '  or  promise  to  pay  the  absurd  pur- 
chase price  at  some  future  day.  Since  then  I  have  never 
heard  from  Pepito,  and  some  of  my  friends  tell  me  I 
am  fortunate. 

"  You  North  Americans  think  that  I  and  those  of 
my  class  who  submit  to  such  treatment  are  cowards. 
Some  of  your  countrymen  have  told  me  as  much,  but 
you  do  us  injustice,  I  think.  A  man  who  enters  into  a 
struggle  where  he  knows  he  will  not  have  fair  play, 
where  he  will  be  stabbed  from  behind  by  some  bandit 
hired  for  the  job  at  about  twenty-five  cents  a  murder, 
is  not,  in  our  opinion,  a  brave  man,  but  a  thoughtless, 
careless  fool.  I  pay  tribute  to  Castro  and  to  his  sub- 
chiefs.  I  submit  to  it  all  as  pleasantly  as  I  can;  they 
say  I  am  a  good  fellow  and  not  proud,  like  some  of  my 
peers,  and  as  a  result  I  have  fed  my  children  and  kept 
some  of  my  estates  intact. 

"  Two  members  of  my  family  have  gone  into  politics 
in  the  last  twenty  years,  and  both  of  them  were  mur- 
dered. In  my  judgment  they  simply  wasted  their  lives. 
Neither  Castro  nor  Gomez  can  live  forever;  perhaps 


i88        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

some  day  a  man  whose  wife  or  sister  or  daughter  has 
suffered  the  last  indignity  at  their  hands,  as  have  so 
many  of  the  daughters  of  Caracas,  may  take  summary 
vengeance,  and  then  things  would  have  to  be  better  be- 
cause— well,  because  they  could  not  possibly  be  worse." 

I  give  this  picture  of  affairs  In  Venezuela  as  viewed 
from  the  Inside,  because  it  has  seemed  to  me  the  truest 
that  was  ever  painted,  and  I  give  it  the  more  readily  be- 
cause the  thought  of  what  might  happen  to  my  inform- 
ant, whose  Identity  could  be  easily  recognised,  does  not 
deter  me.  The  last  mails  from  Venezuela  brought  the 
news  of  his  escape  by  a  natural  death  from  a  position 
which,  in  view  of  all  the  conditions,  I  will  not  qualify. 

In  December,  1908,  when  the  storm  broke  and  the 
foreign  warships  were  drawing  near  to  the  coast,  this 
time  with  no  uncertain  purpose,  Gomez  seized  the 
presidency  and  as  gracefully  as  he  could  climbed  down 
from  the  untenable  position  in  which  Castro,  in  his  crass 
ignorance,  had  placed  his  country.  When  Gomez  as- 
sumed the  reins  of  authority  In  his  own  name  the  com- 
merce of  Venezuela  had  dwindled  to  nothing  and  the 
country  Itself  was  practically  outlawed  by  all  civilised 
powers.  The  bountiful  crops  were  not  harvested  be- 
cause all  markets  were  closed  and  there  was  no  money 
in  the  land.  The  pestilence  of  black  death  and  the  rav- 
ages of  famine  travelled  from  one  deserted  port  to  an- 
other, and  pampas  grass  grew  high  In  the  streets  of 
Caracas.  It  was  indeed  a  gloomy  picture  the  like  of 
which  has  not  perhaps  been  seen  since  the  dictator 
Lopez  converted  smiling  Paraguay  Into  a  wilderness 
of  graves,  where  men  and  cities  lay  in  ashen  shrouds. 

Gomez  has  shown  himself  amenable  at  least  to  the 
logic  of  warships  with  shotted  guns.    Some  of  the  claims 


THE  STORY  OF  CASTRO  189 

of  Holland  and  of  the  United  States  were  paid  imme- 
diately and  others  by  mutual  consent  were  referred  to 
the  Hague  Tribunal.  The  international  relations  of 
the  luckless  republic  have  improved,  but  the  interior 
situation  is,  if  possible,  worse.  To  replace  the  money 
squandered  by  Castro  and  to  meet  the  foreign  claims 
new  taxes  were  imposed  and  further  government 
monopolies  inaugurated.  A  rash  prophet  indeed  would 
he  be  who  dared  to  predict  the  outcome. 

The  uncouth  Andinos,  apparently  convinced  that  Cas- 
tro's career  is  ended,  have  with  but  few  and  unimpor- 
tant exceptions  transferred  their  allegiance  to  the  new 
chief,  who  is  also  a  highlander.  Gomez  maintains  the 
military  establishment  on  the  same  lavish  scale  as  did 
his  predecessor,  and  the  lawless  privileges  and  per- 
quisites of  the  soldiers  are  but  slightly  if  at  all  cur- 
tailed: a  more  radical  course  would,  of  course,  lead  to 
a  military  revolt  and  his  deposition. 

Gomez,  on  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  said,  has 
called  to  the  government  service  a  number  of  the  best 
citizens  and  he  has  emptied  the  prisons,  which  were 
filled  with  political  prisoners  from  the  Castro  regime. 
Of  his  own  enemies  he  has  placed  very  few  behind 
bars,  and  always  after  a  semblance  of  a  trial.  The 
country  is  in  every  sense  of  the  word  exhausted,  and  the 
prevalent  opinion  among  the  people  would  seem  to  be 
that,  since  the  country  has  to  be  ruled  by  an  ig- 
norant mountaineer,  Gomez  is  as  good  a  man  as  any 
other  and  rather  better  than  most. 

The  extremely  difficult  question  which  confronts 
Don  Vicente  Gomez,  and  which  has  to  be  solved  if  he 
would  remain  in  power,  is  one  of  ways  and  means. 
How  and  where,  with  commerce   dead  and  credit  at 


190        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  vanishing  point,  is  the  new  President  to  find  the 
money  required  to  satisfy  the  exorbitant  demands  of 
the  soldiers,  and  at  the  same  time  meet  engagements 
recently  entered  into  with  the  foreign  creditors?  If 
Don  Vicente  solves  this  question,  he  will  have  shown 
some  of  the  qualities  of  a  Colbert  or  a  Hamilton 
which,  at  present,  he  is  not  generally  supposed  to 
possess. 

Early  in  19 12,  when  I  close  this  chapter,  General 
Gomez  is  still  in  power.  He  rules  the  country,  as  did 
his  predecessor,  by  means  of  the  Andean  troops  and  the 
fear  of  a  return  of  Castro  which  is  felt  by  Venezuelans 
as  well  as  by  foreigners.  Peace  prevails  and  the  planta- 
tions are  protected.  Large  and  illegal  commissions  are 
raised  by  the  freebooters  in  power  upon  every  indus- 
try, and  it  cannot  truthfully  be  said  that  there  are  any 
signs  of  a  permanent  improvement  in  political  con- 
ditions. 


CHAPTER  X 

Colombia  and  the  Spanish  Main 

By  the  old  "  Spanish  Main  "  is  generally  under- 
stood the  entire  Caribbean  coast  from  the  Cape  of 
Yucatan  to  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  but  for  the  pres- 
ent we  are  only  concerned  with  that  portion  which, 
stretching  between  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  Guajira 
Cape,  constitutes  the  northern  shore  of  the  Republic  of 
Colombia.  This  little-known  country  is  bounded  on  the 
northwest  by  the  Caribbean  and  the  recently  created 
republic  of  Panama,  south  and  southeast  by  Peru,  Ecua- 
dor, Brazil,  and  Venezuela,  and  west  by  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  In  a  word,  it  stretches  from  the  equator  north- 
ward to  a  little  beyond  the  twelfth  parallel  and  from  the 
seventieth  to  the  eighty-second  meridian,  comprising  a 
country  larger  than  France  and  Italy  combined,  and 
though  it  is  closer  to  Florida  than  Missouri  is  to  New 
York,  it  is  certainly  less  known  to  the  average  North 
American  than  is  the  interior  of  the  Black  Continent. 

Colombia's  isolation  is  all  the  more  remarkable  be- 
cause of  her  naturally  strong  position  in  the  matter  of 
commerce  and  international  relations.  She  is  the  only 
South  American  country  that  occupies  a  continental 
position  approximating  that  of  the  United  States.  She 
has  nearly  five  hundred  miles  of  coast  on  the  Pacific 
and  about  the  same  on  the  Atlantic,  and  of  course  the 
early  completion  of  the  Panama  Canal  will  immensely 
emphasise  these  advantages.     In   1849   Colombia  was 

191 


192        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

mining  ten  times  as  much  gold  as  the  United  States. 
To-day  her  mineral  output  is  insignificant  in  compari- 
son with  ours  and  is  only  about  half  of  what  this  coun- 
try, our  closest  South  American  neighbour,  produced  a 
hundred  years  ago.  Of  course  the  explanation  of  this 
anomaly  in  development  is  that  the  Colombians,  when 
they  work,  work  with  mules  and  oxen,  while  we  have 
bridled  steam  and  harnessed  electricity.  The  vast  min- 
eral resources  of  this  wonderful  country  therefore  re- 
main nearly  intact.  There  is  a  great  lack  of  reliable 
statistics,  but  it  seems  quite  certain  that,  if  coal  should 
give  out  in  England  and  the  United  States,  there  is 
enough  in  Colombia  to  supply  the  world  for  centuries. 
We  will  not  have  to  invent  a  new  fuel,  as  some  great 
chemists  predict,  but  we  may  have  to  invent  a  new  gov- 
ernment for  Colombia.* 

The  topographical  features  of  the  country  are  varied 
and  interesting.  There  are  ranges  of  high  mountains, 
broad,  deep,  and  almost  paradisical  valleys,  rolling 
steppes,  lofty  plains,  cold  wind-swept  paramos^  and 
snow-capped  sierras.  As  Baron  Humboldt  said,  the 
traveller  only  needs  a  thermomiCter  and  a  mule  to  find 
any  desired  climate  within  the  compass  of  a  few  miles. 
When  he  has  tired  of  perpetual  spring  on  the  table- 
land, he  can  in  a  few  hours'  ride  find  winter  on  the 
mountains  above  or  steaming  summer  in  the  valleys  of 
the  hot  country  below. 

The  capital  of  this  highly  favoured  country  is,  un- 
fortunately for  tourists,  situated  far  inland.  It  requires 
a  great  deal  more  time  to  reach  Bogota  from  the  sea- 
coast  than  it  does  to  cross  Siberia  or  to  journey  from 

*The  trade  relations  and  the  fiscal  system  of  Colombia  are  de- 
scribed in  Appendix  E,  Note  I,  page  436, 


COLOMBIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN       193 

Washington  to  Alaska.  The  most  frequented  approach 
to  the  capital  is  by  the  valley  of  the  Magdalena,  be- 
cause the  approach  from  the  Pacific  port  of  Buena  Ven- 
tura, though  also  accessible,  entails  more  mule-back 
riding,  and  to  this  the  untrained  traveller  is  generally 
averse. 

The  navigable  channel  of  the  great  river  Magdalena 
is  constantly  changing  and  has  many  surprises  in  store 
for  the  impatient  traveller  in  the  flat-bottomed  hungoes. 
The  vagaries  of  this  fickle  stream  are  well  illustrated 
by  this  incident  of  Magdalena  navigation.  Forty  years 
ago  the  old  Spanish  city  of  Mompox  was  a  river  port, 
but  it  is  now  nearly  twenty-five  miles  distant  from  the 
water.  Some  two  hundred  miles  up  from  the  coast  the 
river  valley  branches  off  into  that  of  the  Cauca,  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  and  beautiful  regions  on  the  con- 
tinent— in  fact,  in  the  world.  Portions  of  this  valley 
and  nearly  the  whole  upper  end  of  it  have  an  eleva- 
tion of  some  3,000  feet  above  the  sea  and  a  most  de- 
lightful climate.  The  temperature  is  rarely  above  75 
or  below  6^  degrees  the  year  round.  The  soil  is  well 
adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  both  sugar  and  cotton,  and 
the  foothills  on  either  side  are  suitable  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  cereals  of  the  north  temperate  zone.  In  the 
old  colonial  days  this  little  valley  was  possibly  the  most 
desirable  place  of  residence  in  what  was  then  New 
Granada.  Here  in  the  seventeenth  century  came  and 
settled  religious  and  political  refugees  from  every  Euro- 
pean country.  Among  these  were  many  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  Jews — men  of  culture  and  of  wealth  who 
bought  lands  and  converted  this  little  arcadian  valley 
into  a  terrestrial  paradise.  Unhappily  all  this  ended 
with  the  independence  war  and  the  emancipation  of  the 


194        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

slaves.  The  valleys  are  dotted  with  magnificent  haci- 
endas, which  are  either  in  ruins  or  abandoned  to  the 
negroes,  and  to-day  I  understand  these  places  are  any- 
thing but  a   desirable   residence   for  white   families. 

In  a  dip  of  the  great  Andean  range,  and  nearly  two 
miles  above  the  sea  level,  lies  the  great  Savannah  of 
Bogota.  Here  rises  the  capital  city,  and  while  difficult 
to  reach  it  is  certainly  most  centrally  situated.  It  is 
within  a  few  leagues  of  the  Magdalena  and  almost  as 
near  to  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Meta,  one  of  the 
navigable  tributaries  of  the  Orinoco.  When  the  rail- 
roads are  built  and  the  rivers  put  to  their  proper  uses 
a  great  commercial  future  will  dawn  for  Bogota.  To- 
day, apart  from  its  chronic  civic  commotions,  the  capital 
way  up  in  the  clouds  is  best  known,  in  Latin-America 
at  least,  for  its  literary  attainments  and  the  scholars 
which  it  has  produced.  With  Quito,  the  capital  of 
Ecuador,  Bogota  disputes  the  somewhat  hackneyed 
title  of  the  Athens  of  South  America.  The  Bogotanos 
are  great  builders  of  lofty  rhyme,  but  averse  to  road- 
making.  It  is  a  fact  that  with  one  or  two  exceptions 
the  best  roads  in  the  country  are  the  mule  tracks  and 
the  goat  trails  which  the  Conquistadores  left  behind 
them. 

After  decades  of  discussion,  dating  from  the  days  of 
Bolivar  the  Liberator  and  involving  the  diplomatic 
career  of  William  Henry  Harrison,  afterward  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  and  of  Caleb  Cushing, 
whose  activity  as  Uncle  Sam's  agent  was  truly  world- 
wide, the  site  of  the  Isthmian  canal  has  passed  irrevo- 
cably out  of  the  hands  of  the  people  of  Bogota. 

It  would  seem  that  a  great  historic  moment,  a  politi- 
cal opportunity  unparalleled,  a  last  chance  to  get  into 


COLOMBIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN       195 

the  midst  of  things,  has  been  lost,  but  this  has  befallen 
a  government  of  poetasters  before,  and  probably  will 
again.  The  President  of  the  day  was  Jose  Maria  Mar- 
roquin,  a  sage,  a  philosopher,  and  a  discreet  poet. 
Once  the  mobs  that  controlled  the  streets  of  his  ele- 
vated capital  were  quelled  Marroquin  probably  invited 
all  the  rhymsters  to  a  poetry  party  at  the  Falls  of 
Tequendama,  where  the  icy  water  falls  two  hundred 
yards  from  the  cold  country  of  the  plain  down  into  the 
warm,  luscious  country — the  tierra  caliente — where 
there  are  orange  trees  and  blue  butterflies  and  palm  trees, 
with  parrots  perched  upon  them  talking  fluently,  just 
as  though  they  were  in  the  Congreso. 

It  will  be  pleasant  for  the  governmental  poets  to 
dwell  upon  how  much  higher  their  cataract  is  than  Ni- 
agara, but  it  won't  quite  replace  Panama.  We  should 
deal  very  gently  with  our  brother  republicans  in  this 
matter,  because  their  loss  is  not  merely  geographical 
and  political,  but  literary  as  well.  For  instance,  Pan- 
ama, "  the  place  of  the  butterflies  "  in  the  Carib  tongue, 
has  now  become  the  mart  and  workshop  of  the  hard- 
working, cadaverous  Gringo,  and,  of  course,  all  men- 
tion of  it  will  have  to  be  omitted  from  the  Parnasso 
Colombiano,  ten  portly  tomes,  weighing  nearly  a  ton, 
in  which  all  the  Colombian  poets  are  enshrined. 

When  he  came  to  the  presidency  eight  years  ago, 
although  the  political  conditions  were  anything  but 
favourable,  General  Reyes  recognised  the  absolute 
necessity  of  public  improvements.  Assisted  by  compe- 
tent engineers,  native  as  well  as  foreign,  he  drew  up  a 
comprehensive  scheme,  the  leading  idea  of  which  was  to 
develop  a  railway  system  in  connection  with  the  Mag- 
dalena  and  also  a  railway  outlet  on  the  Pacific  connected 


196        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

with  the  valley  of  the  Magdalena  and  the  capital.  Ac- 
cess to  this  river  is  of  course  of  vital  importance  to  the 
whole  region  extending  on  the  east  to  Venezuela.  Of 
course  political  as  well  as  commercial  requirements  make 
it  necessary  to  improve  the  present  means  of  access  to 
the  capital.  Lines  which  were  in  progress  when  Gen- 
eral Reyes  was  exiled  would  very  shortly  have  brought 
the  capital  into  railway  communication  with  Honda, 
thus  avoiding  all  the  costly  transfers  of  freight  and 
passengers  and  the  exasperating  delays  of  the  smaller 
steamers  on  the  upper  Magdalena. 

The  general's  railway  scheme  after  careful  surveys 
had  been  made  assumed  the  feasibility  of  through  rail 
communications  from  the  capital  north  to  the  Caribbean 
coast.  Grave  engineering  difficulties  are  encountered, 
but  these  could  be  overcome.  To-day  the  great,  and 
for  the  present  insuperable,  obstacle  to  carrying  out 
these  well-considered  plans  is  the  reluctance  of  foreign 
capitalists  to  subject  themselves  to  the  political  domina- 
tion of  the  powers-that-be  at  Bogota. 

On  the  west  or  Pacific  side  of  the  country  the  plan 
was  to  consolidate  into  a  single  line  several  of  the 
smaller  railways  under  construction  or  planned,  so  that 
the  port  of  Buena  Ventura  would  also  be  placed  in 
direct  railway  communication  with  the  capital.  There 
are  many  other  railway  branches  equally  important  un- 
der discussion,  but  at  present  there  is  little  active  con- 
struction work  going  on.  Stagnation  has  resumed  its 
sway  in  the  Andean  capital.  The  impression  seems  to 
have  deepened  that  there  is  no  man  in  the  country  who 
can  succeed  in  the  work  of  reorganisation  and  rehabili- 
tation where  Reyes  failed,  and  the  outlook  is  anything 
but  encouraging  either  for  natives  or  foreigners  resi- 


COLOMBIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN       197 

dent  in  a  land  which,  though  blessed  with  every  natural 
gift,  will  doubtless  have  to  pay  to  the  uttermost 
farthing  the  penalty  of  one  hundred  years  of  misgov- 
ernment. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  up  to  the  present  the  his- 
tory of  railway  construction  in  the  republic  has  been  a 
most  discouraging  one.  Numerous  concessions  were 
made  to  natives  and  to  foreigners  who  were  supposed 
to  have  the  necessary  capital,  but  who  as  it  generally 
turned  out  did  not.  In  some  instances  the  railroads  were 
bonded  and  the  bonds  were  sold  on  what  at  first  seemed 
very  attractive  terms  to  investors,  but  in  many  instances 
the  actual  construction  amounted  practically  to  nothing. 
During  General  Reyes'  administration  150  miles  of  new 
railway  construction  was  completed.  Taken  by  itself 
this  seems  a  very  small  increase;  nevertheless,  It  is 
greater  than  the  entire  construction  during  the  previous 
twenty-five  years,  and  was  naturally  taken  as  an  augury 
of  the  success  of  the  comprehensive  policy  which  Reyes 
insisted  upon  as  the  most  important  feature  of  his  pro- 
gramme. The  fiscal  policy  of  the  government  was  to 
grant  a  subsidy  in  the  form  of  interest-bearing  bonds 
covering  a  specific  number  of  miles  as  they  were  com- 
pleted. Large  land  grants  were  also  made,  and  in  some 
of  the  concessions  a  percentage  of  custom-house  receipts 
was  ordered  set  aside  to  meet  the  interest  charges  and 
the  creation  of  a  sinking  fund.  Such,  In  a  few  words, 
was  the  railroad  programme  upon  which  work  is  now 
almost  completely  at  a  standstill.  A  curious  feature  of 
the  situation,  and  one  which  makes  it  extremely  im- 
probable that  railway  construction  will  be  soon  taken 
up  again  in  the  vigorous  manner  which  characterised 
the  first  months  of  General  Reyes'  administration,  is 


ig8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

that  It  is  estimated  that  about  one-third  of  the  able- 
bodied  population  of  the  country  is  employed  in  some 
form  or  other  as  a  boatman  or  a  muleteer  in  one  of  the 
archaic  forms  of  transportation  in  use.  These  men  are 
all  voters,  and  when  their  vested  rights  are  interfered 
with  are  inclined  to  be  revolutionists. 

The  fall  of  General  Reyes  and  his  disappearance 
from  the  political  scene  in  Colombia  is  a  great  disap- 
pointment to  the  well-wishers  of  that  country.  His 
failure  to  maintain  law  and  order  illustrates  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  task  to  which  he  was  called,  almost  unani- 
mously it  seemed,  four  years  ago.  Reyes  was  then  not 
only  the  most  popular  man  in  the  country,  but  he  de- 
served all  his  popularity  and  more.  He  took  a  states- 
manlike view  of  the  problem  posed  by  our  summary 
recognition  of  the  Panama  republic  and  our  purchase  of 
the  Canal  Zone;  and  the  tripartite  treaty  between  the 
United  States,  Panama,  and  Colombia,  to  which  Reyes 
assented,  was  undoubtedly,  if  not  a  solution,  at  all  events 
the  most  satisfactory  arrangement  of  a  vexatious  ques- 
tion that  could  be  hoped  for. 

His  assent  cost  Reyes  his  popularity  and  made  his 
overthrow  possible,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  on  the 
other  hand  the  preponderating  factor  in  his  fall  was 
the  chronic  state  of  civic  commotion  in  which  the  Co- 
lombians live. 

If  the  prophets  of  four  years  ago  who  promised  us 
such  great  things  from  a  Reyes  dictatorship  had  only 
studied  the  history  of  the  country  they  would  not  have 
fallen  into  such  an  error.  A  personal  dictatorship  has 
often  been  exercised  in  Venezuela  and  in  Nicaragua, 
but  the  supreme  power  in  Colombia  has  never  been 
exercised  by  one  man,  but  is  always  vested  in  a  ring 


COLOMBIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN       199 

made  up  of  military  Jefes  and  provincial  bandits  who 
select  one  of  their  number  for  the  presidency.*  When, 
however,  he  does  not  do  exactly  as  they  desire  or  fails 
to  divide  up  the  spoils  of  office  according  to  their  ideas 
of  fairness,  suddenly  there  comes  ''  tin  golpe  de  cuartel " 
— a  military  revolt — and  presto !  another  constitutional 
President  is  selected. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  the  ring  dictatorship,  or 
the  concentration  of  power  in  the  hands  of  one-man 
forms  of  misrepresentative  government  common  in 
Latin-America,  is  the  more  hurtful.  The  result  is  gen- 
erally the  same.  Industry,  education,  and  justice  are 
placed  under  a  taboo  and  anarchy  and  crime  prevail 
throughout  the  land.  Reyes  knew  his  own  people  bet- 
ter than  any  foreigner  can  ever  hope  to  know  them,  and 
doubtless  his  motives  were  of  the  best  and  the  most 
patriotic  when  he  fell  short  of  the  high  standards  of 
government  which  we  had  expected  of  him.  He  tried  to 
play  practical  politics,  and  the  last  two  years  of  his  ad- 
ministration were  certainly  tarnished  by  administrative 
corruption.  He  granted  commercial  monopolies  to  his 
friends,  and  to  men  whom  he  wished  to  enroll  among  his 
supporters,  that  never  should  have  been  granted.  This 
policy  of  compromise  failed  as  it  always  does  fail,  and 
it  must  be  admitted  that  Reyes  finally  left  the  country 
having  lost  everything,  including  his  high  reputation 
for  personal  integrity  which  he  maintained  so  long 
under  such  untoward  circumstances. 

Whatever  may  be  the  verdict  of  history  upon  his 
political  career,  it  is  certain  that  as  an  explorer  Rafael 
Reyes  has  gathered  imperishable  laurels.     He  has  laid 

*Civic  commotions  in  Colombia  from  1864  are  enumerated  in  Ap- 
pendix E,  Note  II,  page  441. 


200        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

bare  the  secrets  of  South  America  as  did  Marco  Polo 
those  of  Asia  and  as  Stanley  in  our  own  day  and  gen- 
eration threw  the  first  light  upon  the  Dark  Continent. 

His  journeys  led  him  from  Panama  to  Patagonia. 
In  all  he  travelled  twenty-five  thousand  miles,  and  every 
step  he  took  was  through  regions  hitherto  unknown  to 
the  pioneer  of  any  race  or  civilisation.  If  the  story  be 
true  which  I  have  often  heard  in  South  America  that 
Reyes  began  his  explorations  by  the  merest  chance — 
that,  in  fact,  the  first  journey  he  undertook  was  to  get 
out  of  Colombia  by  the  back  door — that  is,  down  the 
Orinoco,  because  all  the  ports  and  main-travelled  roads 
were  held  by  his  enemies — then  it  must  be  recognised 
that  the  revolution  which  sent  Reyes  upon  his  scientific 
wanderings  was  the  most  profitable  revolution  that 
South  America  has  ever  produced. 

What  Alexander  Humboldt  did  for  the  shell,  that 
Reyes  has  done  for  the  kernel  and  the  heart  of  the 
great  continent  to  the  south  of  us.  In  the  twelve  years 
that  followed  his  hasty  departure  from  Bogota  Reyes 
never  returned  to  the  fickle  capital  from  which,  like  the 
great  Liberator,  Bolivar  himself,  it  is  said,  he  escaped 
with  but  his  life  and  a  handful  of  faithful  friends. 

When  his  work  was  accomplished  and  the  veil  of 
mystery  that  had  hung  so  long  over  the  interior  of  South 
America  was  raised,  there  was  much  enthusiasm  in 
Colombia,  and  the  demand  was  made  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  day,  not  by  any  party,  but  by  the  people 
of  the  country,  that  he  who  had  so  honoured  his  native 
land  be  in  turn  given  that  recognition  which  was  the 
least  of  his  deserts. 

So  Rafael  Reyes,  the  refugee,  was  made  Minister 
Plenipotentiary  to  France,  and  the  Paris  Geographical 


COLOMBIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN      201 

Society  esteemed  it  an  honour  to  have  the  privilege  of 
publishing  in  its  bulletins  the  record  of  his  inland 
Odyssey. 

The  journey  which  he  began  to  save  his  life  Reyes 
continued,  to  the  inestimable  gain  of  science.  The 
canoe  trip  down  the  Orinoco  would  have  sufficed  most 
men,  but  it  only  awakened  in  Reyes  a  hitherto  unsus- 
pected thirst  for  travel  and  scientific  research.  The  de- 
tails of  his  explorations  are  too  absorbingly  interesting 
to  be  condensed,  but  a  skeleton  chart  or  outline  drawing 
will  give  some  idea  of  the  calibre  of  the  man  who, 
with  all  his  talents  and  all  his  courage,  proved  unequal 
to  the  task  of  cleaning  the  Augean  stable  of  Colombian 
politics. 

Starting  on  foot  from  the  Pacific  coast  of  Colombia 
and  following  the  banks  of  the  Yapura  through  entirely 
unknown  regions,  for  the  greater  part  uninhabited 
even  by  Indians,  Reyes  at  last  reached  the  great  Ama- 
zon, and,  building  a  canoe,  floated  down  to  the  Parana 
and  thence  to  the  Atlantic.  Within  a  few  months  after 
this  journey  was  completed  an  enterprising  firm  of  Eng- 
lish ship-owners  availed  themselves  of  Reyes'  discoveries 
and  placed  a  line  of  steamers  along  the  route  he  had 
travelled,  and  as  a  result  an  extremely  profitable,  and 
let  us  hope  civilising,  trade  has  sprung  up. 

But  Reyes  was  an  explorer,  not  a  promoter,  and  while 
the  merchants  were  getting  ready  to  exploit  the  field 
he  had  opened  he  disappeared  in  another  direction.  He 
had  heard  of  a  noble,  although  somewhat  lonely,  stream, 
the  Tocantin,  which  runs  through  Brazil  to  the  Parana, 
where  it  connects  with  the  Amazon.  Accompanied  by 
his  brothers  and  his  nephew,  he  followed  the  stream 
upward  for  uncounted  miles.     At  last  they  came  to  the 


202        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

head  waters  of  the  great  river  and  to  a  mountain  range 
which  under  various  names  extends  across  the  entire 
breadth  of  South  America  between  the  tenth  and  twelfth 
degrees  of  latitude.  Undeterred  by  this  great  natural 
obstacle,  Reyes  and  his  companions  pushed  on,  and  on 
the  other  side  of  the  mountain  they  came  upon  the  head 
waters  of  the  Parana,  down  which  they  floated  into  the 
river  Plate,  landing  at  Buenos  Ayrcs. 

In  a  word,  they  proved  what  had  never  been  sus- 
pected before,  that  South  America  from  35  degrees 
south  to  10  degrees  north  of  the  equator  is  supplied  by 
nature  with  the  most  magnificent  water  system  that  can 
be  imagined.  There  is  but  one  cutting  of  less  than  fif- 
teen miles  to  be  made,  and  even  that,  it  is  suspected,  may 
prove  unnecessary  on  closer  investigation.  Indeed,  with 
only  the  ramifications  which  are  known  at  present,  this 
perfect  waterway  extends  from  the  western  point  of 
Peru  to  the  most  eastern  point  of  Brazil  and  from 
Colombia  on  the  north  well  into  Argentina  and  Uruguay 
on  the  south.  In  the  course  of  these  journeys  through 
virgin  forests  and  up  streams  never  before  traversed 
by  white  men  Reyes  ran  ^nd  survived  many  dangers. 

However,  such  an  achievement  as  his  demanded  sacri- 
fices, and  they  were  forthcoming.  His  brother,  Enrique 
Reyes,  died  of  the  fever  and  the  remaining  brother, 
Nestor,  was  killed  and  eaten  by  a  cannibal  tribe  they 
came  upon  near  the  head  waters  of  the  Parana.  The 
last  of  his  companions,  his  nephew,  Felipe  Calderon,  fell 
by  a  poisoned  arrow  from  an  unseen  hand  just  as  they 
were  on  the  point  of  reaching  the  frontiers  of  civilisa- 
tion again. 

In  the  fall  of  1901,  his  mission  to  France  being  com- 
pleted, Reyes  went  to  the  City  of  Mexico  as  the  Co- 


u 


u 


u 


COLOMBIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  MAIN      203 

lombian  representative  to  the  Pan-American  Congress. 
At  the  banquet  which  was  tendered  to  the  delegates  by 
the  City  Council  of  Mexico  he  created  something  of  a 
sensation  by  paying  a  warm  tribute  to  old  Spain,  the 
mother  country  of  all  Spanish-Americans.  However,  no 
offence  was  intended  to  the  delegates  of  the  United 
States  and  none  was  taken. 

Like  the  few  Colombians  who  are  of  pure  Spanish 
descent,  Reyes  is  very  proud  of  his  ancestry.  After  the 
Congress  closed  he  said,  with  reference  to  Panama: 
"  I  firmly  believe  the  United  States  will  finish  the  canal 
within  five  years.  I  certainly  trust  she  will.  A  river 
of  gold  will  flow  to  the  Isthmus  from  the  day  the  first 
ship  floats  through.  The  United  States  will  benefit. 
Colombia  will  benefit;  the  opening  of  the  canal,  too 
long  delayed,  will  benefit  the  whole  world." 

What  Mr.  C.  E.  Akers,  in  his  recent  history  of 
South  America,  1 854-1904,  says  of  the  inveterate  in- 
surgents of  Colombia  is  so  true  and  fo  the  point  that  I 
cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  man  who  was  the  Lon- 
don Times  correspondent  In  Latin-America  for  many 
years.  Of  course  what  Mr.  Akers  says  of  the  disor- 
derly political  classes  in  Colombia  is  equally  true  of 
large  fractions  of  the  population  in  several  South  Ameri- 
can States — notably  in  Venezuela. 

"  The  present-day  insurgents  of  Colombia  are  not  far 
removed  from  brigands,  and  the  political  character 
given  to  revolutions  is  generally  a  cloak  to  cov^er  illegal 
forms  of  pillage  and  rapine.  It  is  from  such  elements 
that  political  adventurers  of  one  or  other  party  factions, 
striving  to  control  the  administration,  draw  elements 
for  armed  revolt  against  the  authorities;  and  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  men  who  enter  the  contest  know  little 


204        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  care  less  about  the  merits  of  the  cause.  It  is  con- 
venient for  them  to  maintain  the  fiction  that  they  are 
engaged  in  this  or  that  struggle  from  patriotic  motives 
rather  than  be  classified  as  robbers  and  outlaws,  and  this 
spirit  makes  armed  insurrection  easy  in  Colombia.  Nor 
does  any  punishment  follow  an  unsuccessful  rebellion. 
Property  is  seldom  confiscated,  treason  is  rarely  made  an 
offence  demanding  severe  castigation,  participation  in 
seditious  conspiracies  entails  no  loss  of  civic  rights;  this 
immunity  being  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  the  indi- 
vidual privileges  of  citizens  are  so  mythical  as  to  be 
thought  little  of  where  respect  for  law  and  order  is 
practically  unknown.  In  this  part  of  South  America  the 
general  conditions  more  closely  resemble  the  early  Mid- 
dle Ages  in  Europe  than  anything  in  modern  civilisation ; 
the  injured  must  seek  redress  by  the  sword,  or  bear  with- 
out remonstrance  all  indignities  heaped  upon  them  " 
(p.  602). 

In  one  State  at  least  it  is  expressly  provided  that 
people  are  not  to  be  punished  for  taking  part  in  insur- 
rections, the  notion  in  fact  being  that  insurrection  is  a 
regular  part  of  the  machinery  of  public  life,  which  may 
as  well  be  recognised.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the 
government  actually  in  power  at  any  given  moment 
has  no  moral  presumption  in  its  favour.  It  is  the  child 
of  revolution,  and  a  revolution  to  overthrow  it  is  there- 
fore just  as  likely  to  have  good  grounds  as  had  the 
revolution  which  installed  it.  Similarly,  the  constitu- 
tions of  some  Central  American  States  provide  that  the 
force  and  validity  of  a  constitution  shall  not  be  affected 
by  the  fact  that  a  revolution  has  occurred.  It  is  to 
go  on  without  needing  to  be  reenacted.  Revolution  is 
part  of  the  normal  machinery  of  politics.  * 

*  For  trade  and  fiscal  conditions,  together  with  record  of  "civic 
commotions,"  see  Appendix  E,  page  436. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Cartagena  and  the  Loyal  North  Americans 

While  the  course  of  Isthmian  events  may  yet  drift 
us  into  more  or  less  of  desultory  and  sickly  war  with 
Colombia,  and  as  apparently  only  old  Mr.  Methusaleh 
and  myself  remember  the  details  of  our  first  invasion  of 
the  Isthmian  country,  it  behooves  me  to  tell  some  of  the 
things  that  might  with  profit  be  borne  in  mind,  though 
General  Corbin  did  say — and  he,  more  than  any  other 
man,  was  in  a  position  to  know — that  none  of  our  little 
wars  has  ever  taught  us  anything. 

It  was  in  1740,  a  long  time  before  Uncle  Sam  was 
born,  when  we  were  loyal  North  Americans,  that  His 
British  Majesty  declared  war  against  Spain,  and  in 
particular  that  tenderloin  district  of  Don  Whiskerando's 
possessions  which  is  known  to-day  as  Colombia.  It  was 
a  "  holy  war,"  our  purpose  being,  in  the  words  of  the 
King's  proclamation,  which  was  read  aloud  by  every 
magistrate  and  squire  throughout  the  colonies  and  plan- 
tations, "  to  open  the  ports  of  Spanish-America  to  mer- 
cantile enterprise." 

Times  were  hard,  the  hardest  we  have  ever  had. 
According  to  William  Cooper's  election  sermon  there 
was  "  an  empty  treasury,  a  defenceless  country,  an  em- 
barrassed trade."  It  was  just  the  time  when  a  holy  war 
appealed  to  most  folks,  and  when  a  profitable  one  could 
only  be  hailed  as  a  godsend.  The  recruiting  sergeant 
with  his  pipes  was  heard  through  the  land,  and  four 

205 


2o6        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

thousand  five  hundred  loyal  North  Americans  toed  the 
line. 

And  soon  they  sailed  away  to  singe  the  King  of 
Spain's  beard  and  relieve  him  of  his  ducats.  The  ob- 
jective point  of  the  expedition  was  Cartagena,  the  great 
city  of  the  Spanish  Main,  where  the  plate  ships  ren- 
dezvoused and  the  golden  argosies  came  together  for 
their  voyage  across  the  sea. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  the  days  of  which 
I  speak  we  were  merely  poor  colonials  and  not  the  pros- 
perous cousins  to  be  cajoled  and  flattered  that  we  are 
to-day.  So  somewhat  sternly  we  were  ordered  to  furnish 
four  thousand  foot  soldiers,  and  as  many  able  seamen  as 
His  Majesty's  fleet  might  be  needing  when  it  came  into 
American  waters. 

Massachusetts  sent  five  hundred  men  and  Virginia, 
the  Old  Dominion,  the  same.  The  Virginians  were 
headed  by  a  mere  boy,  one  Lawrence  Washington,  Esq., 
of  Hunting  Creek,  the  elder  half-brother  of  the  im- 
mortal George.  He  brought  back  from  the  Colombian 
war  a  constitution  undermined  by  disease  and  an  undy- 
ing admiration  for  his  commander-in-chief.  Admiral 
Vernon,  which  was  not  shared  by  many  North  Ameri- 
cans, loyal  or  otherwise.  This  he  signalised  by  changing 
the  name  of  his  plantation  into  Mount  Vernon,  which 
in  due  course  of  time  received  the  remains  of  the  Father 
of  Our  Country,  and  became  the  Mecca  of  all  patriots. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  only  this  name  survives 
to  remind  us  of  a  long  forgotten  Colonial  War,  in  which 
many  hundred  of  our  best  and  bravest  lost  their  Hves. 
We  who  are  accustomed  to — I  had  almost  said  surfeited 
by — typewritten  campaigns  and  wars  personally  con- 
ducted  by   press    agents    can   hardly   account   for   the 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS      207 

meagre  records  that  have  come  down  to  us  of  this  ex- 
pedition to  the  Spanish  Main,  that  ended  so  lamentably 
before  Cartagena. 

Only  a  few  of  our  men  came  back,  'tis  true,  but  they 
might  have  done  something  if  they  had  only  hung  to- 
gether, as  nothing  tends  to  keep  green  the  memory  of 
a  campaign  so  much  as  a  talkative  contingent  of  sur- 
vivors. However,  be  this  as  it  may,  our  loyal  North 
Americans  neither  wrote  nor  talked.  They  simply  died 
and  certainly  deserved  the  sobriquet  which  the  colonial 
historians  gave  them  of  the  "lost  brigade." 

But,  though  the  colonial  archives  throw  the  small- 
est possible  light  upon  the  disastrous  expedition,  the 
story  still  survives  in  English  literature.  When  you 
have  read  what  Thomson,  the  laurel-crowned  poet  of 
the  day,  had  to  say  about  it  you  feel  that  you  have  not 
been  spared  a  funeral  note,  and  that  no  army  ought  to 
invade  Colombia  without  a  doctor  in  command. 

"You,  gallant  Vernon,  saw 
The  miserable  scene.     You,  pitying,  saw 
To  infant  weakness  sunk  the  warrior  arm. 
Saw  the  deep,  racking  pang,  the  ghastly  form, 
The  lip  pale,  quivering,  and  the  beamless  eye, 
No  more  with  ardour  bright; 
Heard  nightly  plunged  amid  the  sullen  waves 
The  frequent  corse." 

But  it  is  hard  to  get  twenty-five  thousand  men  to- 
gether without  letting  at  least  one  slip  In  who  can  tell 
a  story,  and  there  was  a  certain  Tobias  Smollett  serving 
on  board  the  Admiral's  ship  in  the  humble  capacity  of 
apothecary's  clerk,  or  surgeon's  mate,  who  lived  to  be- 
come one  of  the  greatest  realistic  writers  of  his  age. 
Tobias  was  perhaps  the  first  Spanish  war  "  roaster  "  of 


2o8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

whom  we  have  any  record,  and  he  never  tired  of  "  roast- 
ing "  Admiral  Vernon  and  General  Wentworth  to  his 
dying  day.  Indeed,  it  was  said  on  the  corner  of  Fleet 
and  Grub  Streets  that  he  died  of  a  "  roast  "  he  could 
not  put  on  paper  quickly  enough. 

Long  after  his  death  there  clung  about  the  Cheshire 
Cheese,  where  he  and  his  kind  foregathered,  a  story  to 
the  effect  that  Tobias  was  disgruntled  because  he  had 
wanted  to  see  everything  and  had  been  ordered  off  the 
poop  deck  by  the  Admiral  of  the  Blue  and  sent  below 
to  the  cockpit,  where  there  were  plenty  of  sick  and 
wounded  to  look  after,  but  nothing  else. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  on  many  occasions  Smollett  showed 
that  his  blame  of  Vernon  and  the  other  bigwigs  of  the 
expedition  was  sincere  even  to  the  point  of  being  spirit- 
proof.  At  that  time  and  almost  down  to  these  tee- 
totalling  days  England  and  the  colonies,  too,  were  dotted 
with  taverns  and  public  houses  bearing  the  name  of 
"  Admiral  Vernon's  Head."  There  was  at  least  one  of 
them  not  so  long  ago  in  Boston  near  the  Custom-House, 
and  they  all  bore  the  inscription,  not  strictly  true,  "  He 
took  Porto  Bello  with  six  ships." 

Now  it  is  related  that  Tobias,  the  first  of  the  critical 
correspondents,  would  not  drink  a  dram  in  such  taverns 
and  could  not,  even  though  he  tried,  take  his  ease  in 
such  inns.  If  you  wanted  to  hear  his  version  of  what 
happened  on  and  off  the  Spanish  Main,  you  had  to 
ply  him  with  liquor  at  some  honest  tavern  like  the 
Blue  Boar  or  the  White  Horse. 

Until  three  years  ago,  curiously  enough,  there  was 
not  a  line  in  the  archives  of  Massachusetts,  so  perfect 
in  other  respects,  concerning  the  Cartagena  expedition. 
However,  since  then  copies  of  the  original  papers,  which 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    209 

had  been  destroyed  by  fire,  have  been  made  In  London 
at  the  Public  Record  Office,  and  the  minutes  of  the 
Colonial  Council,  though  scanty,  shed  some  light  on  the 
events  of  an  interesting  year.  His  Majesty's  declara- 
tion of  war,  it  seems,  was  read  In  the  balcony  of  the 
Council  Chamber  of  Boston  by  the  Deputy  Secretary, 
and  from  him  "  published  with  an  audible  voice  by  Mr. 
Richard  Hubbard,  doorkeeper." 

There  followed  huzzas  from  the  loyal  Americans 
drawn  up  In  King  Street,  and  a  discharge  of  cannon  In 
Castle  William.  And  then  the  Governor's  proclama- 
tion encouraging  the  enlisting  of  volunteers  was  also 
published  out  of  the  balcony,  doubtless  by  the  same  Mr. 
Richard  Hubbard,  "  in  an  audible  voice,"  though  the 
minutes  do  not  say  so.  The  five  companies  of  Massa- 
chusetts volunteers  were  captained  by  John  WInslow, 
George  Wadsworth,  Thomas  Phllllpps,  John  Prescott, 
and  George  Stewart.  The  said  captains  were  duly  sworn 
in  and  placed  in  official  relations  with  one  of  the  Pelham 
Clintons,  who  was,  of  course,  paymaster  general  of  the 
forces;  but  there  is  no  record  of  the  loyal  North  Ameri- 
cans getting  any  pay  except  the  bounty  money  by  which 
they  were  tempted,  and  the  records  show  that  the  sup- 
port of  their  widov^s  and  orphans — for  less  than  fifty  of 
the  five  hundred  Massachusetts  men  returned — was 
quite  a  drain  upon  the  public  purse  and  private  charity 
for  many  years  to  come. 

These  men  satisfied  the  military  requirements  of  the 
situation,  but  It  was  not  safe  for  a  seaman  to  appear  in 
a  port  town  for  weeks. 

In  Boston  there  was  Captain  Percival's  ship  Astrea, 
and  in  New  York  was  His  Majesty's  frigate  Flam- 
borough.    Nightly  they  were  pressing  crews,  and  daily 


2IO        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

they  were  importuning  the  loyal  members  of  the  coun- 
cil for  seamen,  especially  for  riggers,  who  seem  to  have 
been  scarce.  And  then  Captain  Percival  was  always 
sending  expresses  or  pony-riders  to  New  York,  and  as 
each  express  cost  twenty  pounds  His  Excellency  and 
Council  were  very  glad  when  April  17,  1740,  came, 
and  the  Britishers  and  North  Americans  sailed  away  to- 
gether to  loot  the  Spanish  Main,  and  particularly  to 
demolish  Cartagena,  then,  as  now,  a  great  fortified  city. 

Down  in  Virginia  all  record  of  this  colonial  adven- 
ture has  been  well-nigh  obliterated  by  unfortunate  fires 
and  characteristic  negligence,  and  then,  as  usual,  the 
Virginians  were  too  busy  in  making  history  to  have 
much  time  to  chronicle  their  deeds  or  even  their  mis- 
deeds. But  we  know  that  Governor  Spottiswoode — the 
pioneer  who  first  led  the  colonists  over  the  Blue  Ridge — 
was  selected  by  King  George  II.  to  command  the  colo- 
nial regiment,  and  that  he  died  of  a  flux  while  passing 
through  Maryland  on  his  way  to  "  ye  harbour  of  Sandy 
Hook,"  where  the  Loyal  North  Americans  had  been 
ordered  to  assemble. 

However,  two  acts  of  the  Virginia  General  Assembly 
survive  the  ravages  of  time  and  shed  a  flood  of  light 
upon  the  character  of  the  men  who  composed  this  con- 
tingent. The  levies,  it  seems,  were  made  by  the  justices 
of  the  peace,  who  were  instructed  by  His  Majesty's  rep- 
resentative to  enroll  "  able-bodied  persons  fit  to  serve 
His  Majesty  who  follow  no  lawful  calling  or  employ- 
ment." Again  the  General  Assembly  enacts:  "Any 
constable  allowing  a  volunteer  to  escape  shall  be  fined 
five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco."  Perhaps  it  was  not 
so,  perhaps  the  old  enactment  without  comment  or  ex- 
planation is  misleading,  but  it  does  look  as  though  vol- 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    211 

unteering  in  the  James  River  Hundreds  was  very  much 
like  what  it  is  In  Colombia  and  Venezuela  to-day,  where 
you  have  to  catch  your  volunteer  and  hold  him  with 
leather  thongs  and  iron  shackles. 

The  British  vessels,  those  from  the  American  coast 
as  well  as  those  newly  out  from  England,  watered  at 
Domenica.  Here  Lord  Cathcart,  commanding  the  land 
forces,  died  and  the  "  irresolute  and  inexperienced 
Wentworth,"  as  all  agreed  to  call  him,  succeeded  to  the 
command. 

The  great  enterprise  now  had  two  bad  leaders  and  its 
chances  of  piling  up  pieces  of  eight  were  small.  Ad- 
miral Vernon  began  his  interminable  correspondence 
with  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  Secretary  for  War,  with 
these  significant  words :  "  It  is  with  concern  I  am  obliged 
to  entertain  Your  Grace  with  the  widely  different  senti- 
ments of  the  gentlemen  of  the  army  and  us." 

And  now  the  Loyal  North  Americans,  as  far  as  the 
official  report  goes,  sink  out  of  sight.  We  know,  how- 
ever, from  other  sources  that  at  least  three  thousand 
of  them  sank  into  their  graves.  As  far  as  Admiral  Ver- 
non is  concerned  they  sank  quite  unnoticed.  Reference 
is  made  to  a  terrific  wordy  warfare  between  the  Admiral 
and  the  General  as  to  whether  the  army  or  the  navy 
should  take  care  of  twenty  sick  American  soldiers,  whose 
names  are  given.  The  army  wouldn't  do  it  and  the  navy 
wouldn't  do  it,  so  the  poor  fellows  were  probably  un- 
cared  for. 

Then  we  get  a  brief  glimpse  of  Captain  Lawrence 
Washington  coming  on  board  the  Boyne  and  making  a 
protest  against  the  treatment  of  a  detachment  of  Ameri- 
cans, who  were  apparently  swimming  in  bilge  water. 
Vernon  smooths  the  matter  over  affably,  but  tells  the 


212        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Duke  of  Newcastle  in  his  next  that  the  trouble,  what- 
ever it  was,  was  all  the  fault  of  "  ye  American  soldiers." 

When  the  fleet  put  to  sea  Admiral  Vernon  found 
himself  in  command  of  twenty-nine  ships  of  the  line, 
twelve  frigates  and  eighty  smaller  vessels,  including  a 
number  of  fire-ships  and  bomb-ketches.  He  had  sailed 
the  Isthmian  coast  before,  having  the  previous  year 
burnt  Fort  Chagres,  near  where  Colon  stands  to-day, 
and  he  knew  from  experience  that  in  these  latitudes  a 
man  has  to  be  careful  with  his  liquor. 

Rum,  according  to  regulations,  was  served  out  to  fif- 
teen thousand  sailors  and  the  twelve  thousand  soldiers 
twice  a  day.  In  a  general  order  Vernon  suggested  that 
It  would  be  better  for  them  and  for  the  enterprise  upon 
which  His  Majesty  set  such  store  to  dilute  their  rum 
with  water. 

No  attention  being  paid  to  this  suggestion,  a  few 
days  later  Vernon  had  all  the  grog  diluted  by  non-com- 
missioned officers  in  his  presence  before  it  was  served 
out.  This  step,  highly  commendable  from  a  sanitary  as 
well  as  from  a  moral  standpoint,  seems  to  have  taken 
all  the  joy  out  of  the  expedition. 

Sailors  and  soldiers  alike  grew  pensive  and  their 
hearts  failed  them  long  before  they  appeared  off  the 
strong  place  of  the  Spanish  Main,  Cartagena,  as  It 
stood  then  and  very  much  as  It  stands  to-day,  with  its 
battlements  and  towered  walls  in  its  setting  of  purple 
sea.  Vernon  broke  the  boom  and  sailed  into  the  Inner 
harbour.  Then  the  "  Irresolute  and  inexperienced 
Wentworth  "  landed  with  all  his  men  and  for  fifteen 
days  did  nothing  decisive. 

It  is  characteristic  of  the  real  purpose  of  the  expedi- 
tion (here  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  nothing  Is  said  in  re- 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    213 

gard  to  opening  the  "  ports  of  Spanish-America  to  mer- 
cantile enterprise  ")  that  on  the  day  after  the  great  fleet 
anchored  off  the  Playa  Grande  "  a  council  of  war  was 
held  to  settle  the  distribution  of  the  plunder,  according 
to  His  Majesty's  instructions," 

From  now  on  the  Admiral  and  the  General  were  at 
sixes  and  sevens.  Worthy  Smollett  describes  them  as 
follows : 


"  The  Admiral  was  a  man  of  much  understanding, 
strong  prejudices,  boundless  arrogance,  and  overboiling 
passions,  and  the  General,  though  he  had  some  parts, 
was  wholly  defective  in  point  of  experience,  confidence, 
and  resolution." 


General  Wentworth  would  urge  the  Admiral  to  play 
upon  the  main  works  with  his  bomb-ketches,  to  which 
Vernon  would  reply  by  drawing  off,  having  all  the  music 
play  "  Britons,  strike  home,"  and  sending  an  aide  to 
enquire  when  the  gentlemen  of  the  army  proposed  to 
make  their  grand  assault. 

On  March  17  young  Lawrence  Washington  and  his 
contingent  of  Virginians  greatly  distinguished  them- 
selves in  a  night  attack  upon  the  Barradero  Battery, 
which  had  given  much  annoyance.  The  guns  of  the 
enemy  were  spiked,  and  the  contingent  withdrew,  after 
having  acquitted  themselves  handsomely. 

"  The  next  day,"  according  to  Smollett,  "  a  number 
of  Americans  and  negroes  being  landed,  they  began  to 
clear  ground  for  an  [permanent]  encampment.  In  the 
meantime  the  Europeans  suffered  severely  by  reason  of 
the  excessive  heat." 

Finally  Wentworth,  goaded  to  madness  by  Vernon's 


214        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

ceaseless  criticisms,  decided  upon  a  midnight  assault  on 
Fort  San  Larazo,  which  commanded  the  town.  Sixteen 
hundred  men  were  told  off  for  this  duty,  and  the  post 
of  honour  was  assigned  the  North  Americans,  doubtless 
in  the  same  spirit  which  inspired  Aguinaldo  to  let  his 
bow  and  arrow  allies,  the  Igorrotes,  lead  the  charge 
upon  the  American  batteries  around  Manila.  They 
were  both  good  food  for  powder  and  the  other  fellows 
were  too  good. 

Nobody  knows  very  much  what  happened  during  the 
midnight  attack,  much  less  the  General  and  the  Admiral. 
The  morning  sun,  however,  revealed  a  thousand  dead 
and  wounded  lying  on  the  citadel  slopes.  Before  the 
very  eyes  of  the  fleet  the  negro  and  Indian  contingents 
came  out  from  the  Spanish  lines  and  despatched  the 
wounded. 

Again  we  must  have  recourse  to  Smollett  for  what 
happened  on  this  dark  and  bloody  night.  The  assault- 
ing column,  reported  by  all  as  a  most  forlorn  hope,  was 
composed  of  the  Americans  and  the  grenadiers  under 
Colonel  Grant.  Two  hundred  Americans  went  ahead 
as  pioneers,  and  another  detachment  of  the  colonists  was 
sent  around  to  take  the  fort  in  the  rear.  It  was  too  un- 
important a  matter  to  be  mentioned  In  the  official 
despaches,  but  this  latter  force  seems  to  have  been  anni- 
hilated. The  advancing  column  was  discovered  before 
It  left  the  beach,  and  soon  Colonel  Grant  fell  at  the  head 
of  his  men.  The  wrong  road  was  taken  in  the  darkness, 
and  there  ensued  great  confusion.  Soon  the  advancing 
column  wavered  and  such  as  were  able  fell  back. 

"  But,  though,"  writes  Smollett,  "  in  the  face  of  such 
slaughter,  the  Americans  who  carried  the  scaling  lad- 
ders, wool  packs,  and  hand  grenades  would  not  ad- 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    215 

vance  as  pioneers,  many  of  them  took  up  the  firelocks 
which  they  found  on  the  field,  and,  mixing  among  the 
troops,  behaved  very  bravely." 

General  Wentworth  on  the  following  day  complained 
that  the  Admiral  had  given  no  timely  aid.  The  feel- 
ing between  the  army  and  the  navy  grew  so  intense  that 
there  was  imminent  danger  of  open  strife  between  the 
members  of  the  sister  services.  Then  the  rains  set  in, 
and  yellow  fever  began  its  rapid  work.  Men  perished 
in  hundreds.  The  dead  were  cast  into  the  sea  without 
shrouds.  In  three  days  it  is  related  that  the  effective 
force  on  land  dwindled  from  sixty-six  hundred  to  thirty- 
two  hundred. 

Admiral  Vernon  then  says  he  destroyed  the  fortifica- 
tions and  sailed  away,  but  he  probably  meant  that  he 
destroyed  a  few  outlying  forts,  for  Cartagena  stands  in- 
tact to-day  as  when  it  was  built,  perhaps  the  best  ex- 
ample of  a  mediaeval  fortress  in  this  or  in  the  Old 
World. 

When  the  fleet  reached  Jamaica  in  November,  1741, 
Vernon  had  time  to  count  heads,  and  ascertained  that 
his  losses  amounted  to  twenty  thousand  men.  And  all 
that  remained  to  him  of  his  glory  was  his  nickname  of 
"  Old  Grog,"  which  his  sailors  had  given  him  in  memory 
of  the  diluted  rum. 

The  remnant  of  the  land  forces  was  landed  by  the 
Admiral  in  eastern  Cuba  at  a  place  not  named,  but 
described  as  being  fifty  miles  from  Santiago  by  land 
and  twelve  leagues  by  sea.  He  called  the  place  Cum- 
berland Harbour,  after  His  Grace,  and  It  was  probably 
the  present  Guantanamo.  The  captains  of  the  colonial 
contingents  were  sent  home  to  recruit  more  food  for 
powder  and  fevers,  and  we  have  some  record  of  how 


2i6        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Captain  John  WInslow,  of  Massachusetts,  sought  to 
fulfil  his  mission, 

"  The  King  could  only  oJEfer  forty  shillings  bounty 
now,  but  the  army  was  encamped,"  he  announced,  "  in 
Cuba,  a  place  of  '  temperate  airs  and  fertile  soil,'  and 
large  grants  of  these  lands  were  promised  to  those  who 
would  enlist  and  help  conquer  them."  Jonathan 
Belcher,  described  in  the  King's  proclamation  as  "  our 
trusty  and  well  beloved  Captain  General  and  Governor 
in  Chief  of  our  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and 
New  Hampshire,"  to  give  a  stimulus  to  the  recruiting, 
which  languished,  announced  "  that  a  sickness  at  Car- 
tagena little  inferior  to  a  plague  had  in  less  than  seven 
weeks  swept  off  four  thousand  of  the  Spaniards  since 
our  forces  left  it,"  but  it  was  all  of  no  use.  The  Loyal 
North  Americans  were  not  forthcoming,  and  up  to  the 
present  time  there  has  been  no  renewal  of  the  attack 
upon  the  great  fortress  of  the  Spanish  Main.  The 
disaster  there  provoked  the  Spanish  invasion  of 
Florida,  which,  however,  Oglethorpe  defeated  hand- 
somely. Here  at  least  we  were  fighting  on  our  own 
ground. 

After  more  unflattering  comments  upon  the  leading 
officers,  Smollett  concludes  his  frank  narrative,  which 
cut  him  off  for  all  time  from  the  official  preferment 
which  then,  as  now,  historians  of  a  certain  kidney  seek, 
with  the  statement,  "  Good  brandy  and  good  rum  mixed 
with  hot  water,  composing  a  most  unpalatable  drench, 
was  the  cause  of  failure."  The  moral  is  obvious.  You 
must  not  put  an  army  upon  the  Vv^ater  wagon. 

The  wealth  of  Colombia  is  undoubtedly  awaiting 
future  development,  but  it  is  none  the  less  real  for  all 
that.     It  would  be  considered  a  singularly  favoured 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    217 

country  even  if  its  wealth  were  limited  to  agricultural 
and  forest  resources.  But  there  remains  a  vast  store 
of  minerals  that  promise  immense  riches.  I  have  men- 
tioned the  coal  supply,  which  is  practically  unlimited, 
that  is,  as  far  as  soft  or  bituminous  coal  is  concerned. 
There  are  also  unmistakable  indications  of  anthracite 
deposits.  These,  however,  have  not  been  developed, 
because  the  natives  do  not  understand  hard  coal. 

Near  the  capital,  iron  ore  and  coal  are  found  lying 
side  by  side  in  such  superior  quality  and  such  vast  de- 
posits as  to  justify  the  erection  of  costly  iron  works 
to  manufacture  steel  by  the  Bessemer  process.  Yet, 
however  ideal  the  conditions  may  be  in  other  respects, 
as  long  as  the  finished  products  of  these  forges  can  only 
reach  the  desired  markets  by  means  of  mule  trans- 
portation, the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  need 
not  greatly  fear  its  new  competitor. 

The  indications  all  pointed  to  an  early  rush  of 
mining  exploitation  and  commercial  development  equal 
to  anything  that  has  ever  been  seen  in  Mexico  or  in 
our  own  Western  States  when  the  still  existing  political 
unrest  possessed  the  country.  Millions  of  foreign  cap- 
ital in  the  last  decade  has  flowed  into  Colombia,  and 
while  the  United  States  are  represented,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  France 
are  well  ahead  of  us,  and  even  Italy  and  Spain  not  far 
behind.  We  buy  more  Colombian  products  than  any 
other  foreign  nation,  but  we  do  not,  as  we  should, 
supply  anything  like  the  major  portion  of  her  imports. 
The  popular  feeling  in  this  country  is  far  from  friendly 
to  Americans,  though  this  deep-seated  sentiment  rarely 
finds  personal  expression.  A  study  of  the  conditions 
hereobtaining,and  of  the  methods,  by  which  they  may  be 


2i8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

improved,  Is  a  task  worthy  of  the  best  brains  in  Amer- 
ican diplomacy.  It  will  be  a  diplomatic  miracle  if,  by 
the  time  the  Panama  Canal  is  completed,  the  little  Re- 
public of  Panama  has  not  ceased  to  exist,  and  we  be- 
come a  very  close  neighbour,  indeed,  of  the  Republic  of 
Colombia.  In  fact,  it  may  be  that  our  relations  little 
by  little  will  assume  the  complexion  and  the  character 
of  those  that  exist  between  England  and  Egypt. 

To-day,  of  course,  the  greatest  uncertainty  en- 
velops the  immediate  future  in  Colombia.  Its  gov- 
ernment is  in  the  hands  of  either  wholly  untrained  men 
or  of  men  who  inspire  confidence  neither  at  home  nor 
abroad.  The  fiasco  with  which  the  Reyes  regime 
ended  would  seem  to  throw  this  unfortunate  land  back- 
ward at  least  fifty  years!  Still,  Colombia  is  the  rich- 
est undeveloped  country  in  Latin-America.  It  is  easily 
capable  of  supporting  a  population  of  forty  or  fifty 
million  white  men,  and  of  contributing  largely  to  the 
wealth  and  well-being  of  the  world,  and  yet  its  com- 
merce is  decreasing,  there  Is  practically  no  immigration, 
and  its  credit  Is  falling.  A  hundred  enterprises  which 
were  about  to  be  undertaken  for  the  lasting  benefit  of 
Colombia,  and  by  which  civilisation  could  not  have 
failed  to  profit,  have  been  postponed  or  entirely  aban- 
doned, and  a  great  field  for  American  energy  and  a 
great  market  for  American  products  just  across  the 
Caribbean,  and  only  fifteen  hundred  miles  from  our 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  ports,  has  been  closed. 

Of  course,  this  is  a  situation  which,  in  the  present 
conditions  of  economic  struggle  the  world  over,  will 
not  long  be  permitted  to  continue.  I  may  say  here  that 
I  agree  with  what  the  Hon.  John  Barrett  has  said  so 
often  and  so  well,  with  the  authority  which  his  success- 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    219 

ful  mission  to  Colombia  gives  him,  in  regard  to  the 
charm  which  intercourse  with  the  cultured  circles  in 
Bogota  exercises  upon  all  who  are  admitted  to  them.  I 
go  farther,  perhaps,  even  than  Mr.  Barrett  in  my  ad- 
miration of  the  sturdy,  hard-working  peon  classes. 
Still,  the  salient  fact  of  the  situation  remains  that  the 
government  of  the  country  is  in  the  hands,  and  is  most 
likely  to  remain  in  the  hands,  of  organised  banditti,  and 
that  they  are  very  strongly  entrenched  within  fairly 
easy  striking  distance  of  our  five  or  six  hundred  million 
dollar  investment  at  Panama. 

Many  books  have  been  written,  and  yet  more  will 
be,  as  to  the  circumstances  under  which  the  Republic 
of  Panama  was  founded  and  the  Canal  Zone  obtained. 
Mr.  Roosevelt  says  bluntly,  "  I  took  the  Isthmus," 
while  Dr.  Federico  Boyd  and  the  other  members  of 
the  Panama  Revolutionary  Junta  retort  with  consid- 
erable emphasis  that  the  ex-President  is  labouring  un- 
der a  delusion.  When  you  are  on  the  spot,  the  facts 
are  not  difficult  to  ascertain,  nor  yet  to  understand,  but 
it  is  a  difficult  story  to  tell  in  a  paragraph. 

The  people  of  Panama  claim,  though  this  claim  is 
disputed,  that  their  country  was  never  identified  with 
New  Granada  or  Colombia  in  the  days  of  the  Spanish 
regime,  and  that  they  only  joined  with  their  neigh- 
bours during  the  independence  wars  for  the  purpose 
of  shaking  off  the  Spanish  yoke.  After  the  Spaniards 
were  expelled,  the  Colombians  remained.  How  un- 
pleasant this  was  to  the  inhabitants  of  Panama  is 
clearly  indicated  by  the  frequent  revolutions  which  oc- 
curred. When,  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
the  importance  of  the  Isthmus  became  apparent  to  our 
statesmen  in  Washington,   as  was  also  the  necessity 


220        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  constructing  a  railroad  across  it,  we  negotiated  a 
treaty  with  Colombia,  because  practically  Colombia 
was  the  only  half-way  organised  government  in  sight. 
By  this,  the  Treaty  of  New  Granada,  we  were  prac- 
tically granted  a  protectorate  over  the  Isthmus.  This 
practical  protectorate  carried  with  it  the  duty  of  keep- 
ing the  transit  of  the  Isthmus  open  to  all  the  world. 
In  recognition  of  the  somewhat  peculiar  relations 
which  were  established  by  this  treaty  between  us  and 
the  Colombians,  we,  during  the  last  sixty  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  suppressed  for  the  sole  benefit  of 
our  friends  In  Bogota  at  least  twenty-five  revolutions, 
all  of  which  exhibited  pronounced  separatist  tendencies. 
These  interventions  In  force  cost  us  the  lives  of  many 
men,  and  the  expenditure  of  much  money,  but  these 
sacrifices  were  gladly  met  in  Washington  so  long  as 
thereby  the  free  and  unimpeded  transit  of  the  Isthmus 
was  secured  for  the  commerce  of  the  world. 

During  the  sixty  years  which  Colombia  remained  nom- 
inally master  of  the  Isthmus,*  thanks  to  the  frequent 
campaigns  which  we  waged  In  her  behalf,  and  in  behalf 
of  free  transit,  on  one  hand  Colombia  exploited  the 
State  of  Panama  in  the  most  shameful  manner,  while 
on  the  other  hand,  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  its 
existence,  the  French  Canal  Company  was  the  victim 
of  periodic  blackmail  and  of  at  least  four  separate 
and  distinct  "  hold-ups,"  which  netted  the  statesmen  of 
Bogota  many  millions. 

When  the  Hay-Herran  Treaty  came  before  the  Co- 
lombian Senate,  a  number  of  senators,  sufficient  to  con- 
trol that  august  body,  decided  upon  a  fifth  hold-up, 

*An  incomplete  list  of  political  disturbances  on  the  Isthmus  since 
1858  is  given  in  Note  II,  Appendix  E,  page  441. 


CARTAGENA  AND  NORTH  AMERICANS    221 

which  promised  to  be  more  lucrative  than  the  previous 
ones.  Their  plan  was  to  delay  the  treaty  until  the 
franchise  under  which  the  Canal  was  being  built,  and 
which  the  French  Company  had  sold  to  our  Govern- 
ment, should  expire.  This  once  accomplished,  the 
blackmailing  operations  to  the  detriment  of  progress 
and  commerce  could  be  initiated  all  over  again,  with  a 
new  and  a  magnificently  rich  victim. 

At  this  juncture,  when  the  Hay-Herran  Treaty  had 
been  rejected  by  the  Colombian  Senate,  a  revolutionary 
junta,  composed  of  the  leading  Panamanians,  ap- 
proached influential  people  in  Washington,  notably  the 
late  Senator  from  Ohio,  Marcus  Hanna,  and  these 
emissaries  were  assured,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  this, 
that  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  our  long  unre- 
deemed pledge  to  the  world  of  free  transit  of  the  Isth- 
mus and  an  inter-oceanic  canal  secured  to  the  com- 
merce of  the  world,  we  would  not  permit  the  Colom- 
bians, as  on  so  many  previous  occasions,  to  convert  the 
Isthmus  into  a  human  slaughter-house,  nor  would  we 
assist  them,  as  had  been  our  mistaken  policy  in  previ- 
ous years,  to  regain  control.  Undoubtedly  very  much 
encouraged  by  the  new  point  of  view,  which  prevailed 
in  Washington,  the  independence  of  Panama  was  duly 
proclaimed,  and  our  ships  were  on  hand  to  protect  the 
young  republic  and  the  freedom  of  transit.  Doubt- 
less had  we  not  intervened  in  this  energetic  way,  Co- 
lombia would  have,  in  the  course  of  time,  succeeded  in 
conquering  the  Panamanians  and  reducing  the  Isthmus 
to  a  few  heaps  of  burning  ruins.  But  we  did  inter- 
vene, in  the  name  of  civilisation  and  of  progress.  That 
is  our  right  and  duty  under  the  Monroe  Doctrine  every- 
where on  the  American  Continent,  but  it  would  also 


222        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

appear  that  President  Roosevelt  acted  well  within 
special  rights  secured  by  the  Treaty  of  New  Granada. 

Of  course,  the  rabidly  anti-American  among  Latin- 
American  politicians  make  what  capital  they  can  out  of 
what  they  call  "  the  rape  of  the  Isthmus,"  and  some 
representatives  of  the  people  in  Washington  who  are 
ignorant  of  the  fact  and  unacquainted  with  the  condi- 
tions by  which  the  Administration  was  confronted,  as- 
sist them  in  their  purpose  of  vilifying  our  country  by 
their  sophomoric  effusions  upon  the  stump  and  in  Con- 
gress. 

I  may  add  from  personal  observation  that  our  con- 
duct is  well  understood  and  generally,  though  not  uni- 
versally, approved  in  most  of  the  South  American  cap- 
itals. Certainly  in  no  place  is  the  downfall  of  the 
brigands  in  Bogota  regretted.  They  had  stretched  a 
boom  of  blackmail  and  of  intricate  chicane  across  the 
most  vital  path  of  commercial  progress,  and  in  secur- 
ing and  in  enforcing  the  free  transit  of  the  Isthmus  un- 
der civilised  conditions,  President  Roosevelt  deserves 
and  will,  no  doubt,  receive  the  thanks  of  not  only  both 
the  Americas,  but  of  the  civilised  world. 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  Orphans  of  the  Conquest 

The  first  of  the  lesser  islands,  the  orphans  of  the 
conquest,  as  I  have,  I  think  with  justice,  called  them, 
which  the  traveller  from  the  north  is  likely  to  see,  are 
the  outlying  Virgins,  and  then  comes  Saint  Thomas, 
and  the  last  of  the  colonial  possessions  which  remain 
to  the  Danish  Vikings.  Saint  Thomas  is  often  called  the 
Gibraltar  of  America,  and  the  name  is  not  at  all  in- 
applicable. Experts  consider  the  island  naturally  im- 
pregnable, irrespective  of  the  artificial  assistance  of 
fortifications.  The  enclosing  ridges  and  the  projecting 
peninsulas,  just  as  they  came  from  the  hands  of  the 
world's  great  Sculptor,  only  slightly  modified  here  and 
there  by  volcanic  influences,  are  said  to  constitute  the 
last  word  in  defensive  fortifications  as  worked  out  by 
the  great  modern  masters  of  Vauban's  art,  such  as 
Todleben  and  Brialmont. 

The  strategic  position  of  Saint  Thomas  and  the  two 
other  Danish  islands  *  is  very  strong  in  relation  to  the 
Panama  Canal.  Our  naval  strategists  have  always 
been  In  favour  of  their  acquisition  by  purchase  or 
otherwise.  They  might  well  become  in  the  future,  as 
in  the  past,  a  safe  refuge  of  our  enemies.  During  the 
Civil  War  the  Danish  islands  were  the  rendezvous  and 

*  Statistics  in  regard  to  these  islands  are  given  in  Appendix  F, 
page  446. 

223 


224        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  headquarters  of  the  blockade-runners,  who  did  so 
much  to  prolong  the  struggle.  Charlotte  Amalla,  the 
port  town,  and,  indeed,  the  only  place  of  any  im- 
portance on  the  island,  has  about  fourteen  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  its  chief  industry  in  these  otherwise 
slack  days  is  purveying  to  the  wants  of  political 
refugees  from  the  adjacent  islands,  and  in  fitting  out 
filibustering  expeditions,  at  so  much  an  expedition,  to 
redress  the  chronic  wrongs  from  which  the  adjacent 
islands  would  seem  to  suffer.  It  is  certain  that  Saint 
Thomas  has  the  best  of  harbours,  deep  and  landlocked 
on  three  sides.  The  port  town  is  surrounded  by  hills, 
from  which  drift  down  almost  continually  pleasant 
breezes.  The  houses  are  mainly  of  stone,  with  red  tile 
roofs,  and  are  embowered  in  secretive  tropical  gardens. 
Blackbeard's  tower,  from  which  so  many  buccaneers  in 
former  days  took  their  bearings,  still  exists,  and  even 
if  you  do  not  believe  in  the  length  of  the  pirate's 
whiskers,  or  in  the  number  of  his  wives,  whom,  legend 
has  it,  he  kept  happy  and  contented,  there  Is  a  wonder- 
ful view  from  the  top  of  the  tower  which  well  repays 
the  climb.  The  old  Danish  fort,  with  its  seventeenth- 
century  air.  Its  cannon  pointing  skyward,  and  its 
wooden  sentinels,  also  well  repays  a  visit. 

Saint  Thomas  has  been  almost  deserted  of  recent 
years  by  the  ocean  liners.  It  has,  however,  latterly 
become  the  headquarters  of  the  Hamburg-American 
Line,  and  the  good  Germans,  it  cannot  be  denied,  make 
themselves  very  much  at  home  here.  They  have  their 
docks  and  their  depots  of  coal,  and  generally  assert 
proprietorship  in  a  way  which  Is  evidently  very  Irritat- 
ing to  the  Danish  colonial  officials.  However,  the  ap- 
peals for  support  which  they  make  to  Copenhagen  are 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        225 

never  sustained.  Enthusiastic  admirers  of  Charlotte 
Amalia,  and  other  annexationists,  have  always  claimed 
for  the  port,  among  its  other  virtues,  that  it  is  prac- 
tically hurricane-proof.  This  was  probably  never 
true,  and  certainly  has  not  been  true  during  the  last  ten 
years.  However,  it  undoubtedly  remains  the  most  de- 
sirable existing  harbour  in  the  West  Indies,  with  the 
exception  of  Mole  Saint  Nicolas,  in  northwest  Hayti, 
which  our  fleet  found  so  useful  for  coaling  purposes 
in  the  Spanish  War.  Should  the  Germans  ever  seek 
land  as  well  as  commerce  in  the  West  Indies,  there  are 
many  indications  that  they  would  take  Saint  Thomas 
and  Curasao.  If  they  were  permitted  to  do  so,  they 
would  in  this  way  secure  strategic  positions  as  strong, 
if  not  stronger,  than  those  which  the  English  and  we 
ourselves  possess. 

Within  sight  from  the  hills  of  Saint  Thomas  lies 
Saint  John's,  another  of  the  Danish  islands,  and,  as 
seen  from  the  sea,  a  very  beautiful  island,  rich  in 
forests  and  in  streams.  It  furnishes  also  very  striking 
illustration  of  one,  and  a  certainly  very  disagreeable, 
phase  of  the  West  Indian  situation.  The  island  is 
healthy  and  rich  in  resources.  Coffee  and  bay  trees 
run  wild,  and  its  harbour.  Coral  Bay,  is  supposed  to  be 
hurricane-proof,  and  certainly  has  excellent  anchor- 
age in  about  fifteen  fathoms  of  water.  The  woods 
are  filled  with  wild  pigeons  and  doves,  but,  with  all 
these  natural  advantages,  the  island  has  been  entirely 
deserted  by  its  white  population,  and  here,  I  am  told, 
the  black  inhabitants,  numbering  about  two  thousand, 
almost  entirely  shut  off  from  civilising  influences,  are 
fast  relapsing  into  African  barbarism.  This  informa- 
tion comes  to  me  from  several  distinct  and  very  reliable 


226        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

sources,  but  it  is  second-hand,  as  the  opportunity  of  vis- 
iting Saint  John's  never  presented  itself  to  me. 

Santa  Cruz,  by  some  called  the  Isle  of  the  Holy 
Cross,  by  very  earthly  people  the  Isle  of  Rum  and 
Sugar,  is  the  third  and  last  of  the  Danish  islands,  and  it 
is  also  the  largest,  possessing,  as  it  does,  some  seventy- 
four  square  miles  of  fertile  soil.  Here  the  atmos- 
phere is  rather  more  American  than  in  any  other  parts 
of  the  West  Indies,  not  even  including  our  own  pos- 
sessions. The  planters  and  the  farm  managers  are 
for  the  most  part  men  of  Irish  birth  or  descent,  who 
have  become  Americanised,  and  there  are  also  quite 
a  number  of  typical  Yankees,  generally  schooner  skip- 
pers, who,  having  wearied  of  the  sea,  have  cast  anchor 
in  this  snug  harbour.  To-day  the  shadow  of  an  un- 
fortunate real  estate  speculation  hangs  over  the  Island 
of  Rum  and  Sugar.  Fifty  years  ago  these  plantations 
were  still  practically  so  many  gold  mines.  They  never 
came  on  the  market.  Ten  years  ago,  however,  when 
Sugar  was  down,  most  of  them  could  be  purchased  and, 
indeed,  a  great  number  of  them  were  purchased,  at 
prices  that  did  not  cover  the  cost  of  the  improvements. 
These  purchases  were,  of  course,  inspired  by  a  belief 
that  sooner  or  later  the  island  would  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  United  States,  and  so  Santa  Cruz  rum 
and  Santa  Cruz  sugar  would  enter  the  American  mar- 
ket under  more  favourable  circumstances  than  the  rival 
products  of  the  other  islands.  Plantation  prices  rose 
while  the  annexation  treaty  was  before  the  Senate,  and 
some  of  the  speculators,  as  well  as  the  ancient  owners, 
sold  out.  They  were  laughed  at  at  the  time,  but  the 
sequel  has  shown  them  to  be  wise  men.  To-day  most, 
if  not  all,  the  plantations  are  again  for  sale  at  ap- 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        227 

proximately  the  old  low  level  of  prices,  and  there  are 
no  purchasers.  "  I  knew  it  was  all  up  with  our  real 
estate  spec,"  said  one  sugar-logged  skipper,  who  hailed 
from  Cape  Cod  in  happier  days,  "  when  I  read  that 
King  William  had  gone  to  Copenhagen  and  kissed  King 
Christian  on  both  cheeks  and  asked  him  not  to  sell 
out  to  Uncle  Sam.  A  pair  of  Kings  ain't  much  in 
Poker,  but  I  guess  it  makes  a  strong  hand  in  European 
politics." 

In  addition  to  those  already  enumerated,  there  are 
still  some  thirty  or  forty  islands  belonging  to  the 
Virgin  group,  and  the  area  of  those  under  the  British 
flag,  and  large  enough  to  count  without  a  microscope, 
is  about  sixty  square  miles.  They  generally  bear 
names  eloquent  of  their  glorious  days,  such  as  Rum 
Island,  Broken  Jerusalem,  and  Dead  Man's  Chest. 
When  Captain  Kidd  sailed  the  seas,  these  islands  all 
had  their  place  and  position  in  the  buccaneering  world, 
but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  in  the  prosaic  to-day  they 
are  side-tracked  and,  indeed,  for  the  most  part,  only 
visited  In  case  of  shipwreck. 

In  the  olden  days,  when  the  French  and  the  Dutch 
and  the  English  were  fighting  for  the  possession  of  the 
sugar  Islands  and  the  supremacy  in  these  seas,  often 
two  nationalities  were  found  in  possession  of  an  Island 
when  the  statesmen  at  home,  for  reasons  of  their  own, 
made  peace,  and  there  the  colonists  remained.  The 
joint  ownership,  however,  did  not  last  long,  and  in  the 
end  the  weaker  claimant  was  generally  driven  away. 
Of  the  Islands  In  the  Caribbean  chain  only  one  remains 
which  is  still  jointly  owned  by  the  French  and  Dutch. 
This  is  the  Island  of  Saint  Martin,  not  far  distant  from 
Anguilla.     It  is  about  forty  square  miles  in  area,  and 


228        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

is  fertile  and  well  wooded.  Like  other  mariners  in 
these  seas,  I  have  steered  by  the  conical  hill  which  is 
known  as  Paradise  Peak,  that  rises  from  Saint  Martin 
to  a  height  of  nearly  two  thousand  feet,  but  I  steered 
so  well  that  I  never  landed  on  the  shore. 

The  northern  half  of  this  disputed  land  is  still  occu- 
pied by  the  French,  and  is  ruled  by  them  from  Guade- 
loupe. The  Dutch  own  the  southern  half,  with  its  port 
at  Phillipsburg.  The  seventeenth-century  contention 
and  land  hunger  are  long  since  dead,  and  both  powers 
would  like  to  let  go  of  Saint  Martin  if  they  only  knew 
how.  The  island  is  very  rarely  visited,  except  every 
now  and  then,  generally  in  sailing-vessels,  by  the 
French  officials  from  Fort  de  France,  and  the  Dutch 
officials  from  Curasao,  who  must  come  to  the  island 
to  hold  court  and  for  administrative  purposes. 

The  next  island  we  come  to  in  our  lazy  cruise 
southward  is  that  of  Saint  Barts.  It  is  the  smallest 
of  the  group  in  area  and,  perhaps,  in  population,  but  it 
has  a  history  that  could  not  be  compressed  into  a 
score  of  volumes.  It  belongs  to  France  to-day,  and 
is  a  dependency  of  Guadeloupe,  but  the  name  of  the 
port,  Gustavia,  betrays  the  Swedish  settlement  and  oc- 
cupation of  the  island,  which  lasted  for  nearly  a  cen- 
tury. Saint  Barts,  in  the  glorious  days  of  the  sev- 
enteenth and  eighteenth  centuries,  was  the  resort  of 
the  big  buccaneers,  in  comparison  with  whom  the  low 
pirates,  who  rendezvoused  at  the  Tortugas,  were  small 
fry,  indeed.  "  Montbars  the  exterminator  "  lived  and 
thrived  here,  and  here  many  honest  and  industrious 
souls  have  thought  he  buried  some,  if  not  all,  his  ill- 
gotten  gains.  The  island  is  simply  honeycombed  with 
shafts  that  treasure-hunters  have  sunk,  but  so  far  as  is 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        229 

known  the  treasure  has  never  been  uncovered.  Saint 
Barts  saw  its  last  days  of  splendour  during  the  Amer- 
ican revolution,  when  the  privateers  and  blockade- 
runners  resorted  here  in  great  numbers.  Such  a  vast 
quantity  of  contraband  was  accumulated  that,  finally, 
Rodney  deemed  it  worthy  of  his  notice.  He  came  in 
and  sacked  the  place,  and  sailed  away  with  a  booty 
mounting  to  over  half  a  million  pounds.  Saint  Barts 
would  seem  to  have  never  recovered  from  this  blow. 

Most  curious,  perhaps,  of  all  these  sequestered 
islands  is  little  Saba.  It  Is  practically  a  volcanic  pillar 
thrust  up  from  the  ocean  depths  to  a  height  of  nearly 
three  thousand  feet,  and  generally  called,  for  reasons 
which  are  not  apparent  to  the  naked  eye,  "  Bonaparte's 
Cocked  Hat."  One  side  of  this  volcanic  pillar  or  cone 
was  blown  off  by  an  eruption  in  ages  past,  and  here,  in 
the  crater  and  at  the  bottom  of  it,  is  the  only  town 
that  the  island  possesses.  It  is  called  Bottom,  and  is 
more  true  to  name  than  some  of  the  other  West  In- 
dian descriptive  titles.  The  crater  has  long  been  ex- 
tinct, and  the  inhabitants  of  Bottom  feel  quite  secure. 
They  are  never  molested  by  visitors — for  one  reason, 
because  the  island  has  no  harbour,  and  a  landing  is  said 
to  be  anything  but  agreeable.  Saba  is  quite  a  resort 
and  dwelling-place  for  retired  and  invalided  Dutch 
sailors.  They  like  it  because  they  can  climb  up  the  cone, 
as  they  might  on  board  ship  climb  to  the  maintop  to 
sweep  the  horizon  with  their  glasses,  and  assure  them- 
selves that  all  goes  well.  They  occupy  all  sorts  of 
little  hovels  In  and  out  of  the  volcanic  cone,  and  at  an 
elevation  sufficient  to  cool  the  temperature  appreciably. 

Saba  Is  very  healthy,  and  the  Dutch  Government  has 
often  thought  of  erecting  here  a  sanitarium  or  place  of 


230        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

recuperation  for  its  officials,  debilitated  by  the  steam- 
ing heat  of  Surinam  and  Guiana,  but  the  project  has 
never  been  carried  out,  probably  because  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  making  a  good  landing  in  this  otherwise  most 
fortunate  island. 

In  the  general  distribution  of  the  spoil  and  parti- 
tion of  territory  after  Great  Britain  had  all  she  wanted, 
and  France  and  Holland  found  they  could  grow  sugar 
at  home,  the  Dutch  rem.ained  in  possession  of  only  half 
a  dozen  small  islands,  which,  in  a  quiet,  dormant  way, 
they  still  retain.  The  largest  and  most  important  of 
these,  of  course,  is  Curagao,  off  the  Venezuelan  coast, 
and  the  smallest  is  Saba.  Next  to  this  is  Statia,  a  little 
island  about  seven  square  miles  in  area,  which  is  con- 
nected with  Saint  Kitts,  the  English  island,  by  a  small 
sloop  packet.  Statia's  volcano  forms  an  almost  per- 
fect cone,  but  I  did  not  find  it  so  impressively  beautiful 
as  the  graceful  mountain  slope  of  Nevis.  Here,  again, 
in  default  of  a  natural  harbour  or  landing-place,  the 
Dutch  Government  has  constructed  a  steel  jetty  out 
into  the  roadstead  of  Pont  Orange.  Statia  is  ter- 
ribly poverty-stricken  to-day.  There  is  little  life  and 
no  money  on  the  island.  History  has  it  that  Rodney 
once,  acting  under  the  orders  of  his  government, 
pounced  upon  the  richly  laden  ships  anchored  in  the 
roadstead,  and  departed  with  plunder  amounting  to 
over  three  million  pounds.  There  have  not  come  to 
the  island  since  so  many  pennies.  Here  tradition  has 
it  that  the  first  distinctive  flag  borne  by  an  American 
vessel  was  saluted  officially.  It  is  said  to  have  had 
thirteen  stripes,  and  the  colours  were  red,  white,  and 
blue,  and  it  was  flown  by  that  saucy  privateer,  the  An- 
drea Doria  of  Baltimore.     When  he  saw  the  new  flag, 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        231 

the  then  ruler  of  Statia,  Governor  de  Graaff,  did  not 
waste  any  time  looking  up  precedents  or  the  code  of 
proper  procedure  incumbent  when  a  strange  flag  ap- 
pears in  the  offing.  All  he  could  remember,  it  is  said, 
is  the  plunder  that  Rodney  carried  away,  and  the 
little  Baltimore  schooner  received  the  national  salute, 
which  made  the  hills  echo,  and  burst  most  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's guns. 

My  stay  in  Saint  Thomas,  which  was  greatly  pro- 
longed by  steamer  delays,  was  rendered  very  agree- 
able by  a  happy  accident  which  brought  me  into  touch 
with  the  Redemptorist  Fathers,  who  police  the  Virgin 
Islands  for  the  Catholic  Church  as  far  down  as 
Dominica.  The  Fathers  are  all  Belgians,  and  are  evi- 
dently recruited  from  a  much  higher  class  than  are 
the  French  priests  I  met  in  Hayti.  I  questioned  them 
one  evening  in  regard  to  the  alleged  hostility  of  the 
negro  population  to  the  United  States,  and  as  to  their 
reported  aversion  to  the  annexation  plan,  which  was 
so  ably  exploited  in  Copenhagen  during  the  treaty 
negotiations.  The  years  of  service  in  the  Danish 
Islands  of  the  Fathers  with  whom  I  sat  made  a  total 
of  nearly  two  hundred;  and  yet  they,  one  and  all,  de- 
nied ever  having  heard  or  seen  anything  to  confirm 
these  rumours.  They  were  unanimous  in  thinking  that 
the  sentiment  among  the  negroes  was  entirely  the  other 
way.  At  present  the  negroes  and,  indeed,  all  the  in- 
habitants of  the  islands,  lead  a  rather  precarious  hand- 
to-mouth  existence,  while  under  the  American  flag  they 
expected  that  many  comforts  and,  indeed,  great  wealth 
would  fall  into  their  laps. 

The  Redemptorist  Fathers  do  not  credit  the  can- 
nibalistic stories  which  now  and  again  come  from  these 


232        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

islands.  Whatever  may  happen  in  Hayti,  they  say, 
there  are  no  blood  feasts  partaken  of  or  black,  masses 
celebrated  in  the  Caribbees.  Among  the  Caribs,  they 
contend,  cannibalism  was  only  indulged  in  at  long 
intervals,  and  at  most  important  war  feasts.  They 
admitted  that  their  parishioners  had  a  great  fear  of 
the  Obeah  power,  but,  strangely  enough,  not  of  those 
who  profess  to  exercise  it.  One  of  the  Fathers  told 
me  an  incident  to  illustrate  this  point  of  view  which 
happened  in  Antigua  almost  under  his  very  eyes.  A 
strange  negro  had  come  to  the  island.  He  was  rather 
secretive  as  to  his  antecedents,  and  soon  the  rumour 
ran  that  he  was  an  Obeah  doctor,  and  possessed  an 
evil  eye.  A  day  or  two  later  he  was  found  in  a  cane- 
field  with  many  stab  wounds,  from  which,  after  a  week, 
he  died.  He  declined  to  assist  the  Fathers  and  the 
English  authorities  in  their  search  for  his  cowardly 
murderers,  saying  that  the  punishment  which  Obeah 
reserved  for  them  was  greater  than  any  that  man 
could  inflict. 

The  monastery  in  which  I  was  so  kindly  received 
stands  high  above  the  port  of  Charlotte  Amalia,  and 
from  its  terrace  on  clear  days  the  islands  and  the 
keys  stretch  out  across  the  turquoise  seas  towards 
Porto  Rico.  In  the  library  there  was  a  weather-worn, 
worm-eaten  copy  of  Pere  Labat's  celebrated  book. 
Labat  was  a  French  Jesuit,  who,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  cruised  about  in  these  islands,  converting  thou- 
sands by  rough-and-ready  methods,  and  always  with 
an  eye  to  the  picturesque.  It  was  in  the  days  before 
consciences  were  awakened  or  philosophic  doubt 
aroused,  when  at  least  frankness  was  a  virtue  pos- 
sessed by  all;  and  the  good  Father  tells  of  so  many 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        233 

Islands  bought  for  so  many  bottles  of  brandy,  which 
the  Caribs,  to  their  sorrow,  preferred  to  their  native 
rum.  It  was  all  done  for  the  glory  of  God  and  to 
the  aggrandisement  of  his  church,  and,  according  to 
the  Father,  it  was  well  done.  Though  jealously 
guarded,  as  becomes  a  volume  of  which,  perhaps,  only 
four  or  five  copies  are  in  existence,  the  Fathers  placed 
this  Froissartian  chronicle  of  the  West  Indies  at  my 
disposal.  And  so  it  was  that  many  a  long  afternoon 
we  sat  in  the  vine-covered  garden  and  talked  of  the 
passing  of  the  Carib  Kings. 

I  shall  always  remember  the  story  that  Labat  tells 
of  why  a  great  hill  in  Grenada  is  still  known  as  Le 
Morne  des  Sauteurs.  Here  the  last  organised  re- 
sistance was  offered  to  M.  Du  Parquet,  a  pioneer  gov- 
ernor of  Martinique,  and  his  French  followers.  Bat- 
tle after  battle  had  been  fought  and  lost,  and  at  last 
the  Caribs  were  driven  to  this  high  promontory,  sur- 
rounded by  yawning  precipices,  and  only  accessible 
through  a  cave,  the  entrance  to  which  was  thought, 
by  the  refugees,  to  have  been  carefully  concealed. 
However,  soon  the  secret  passage  was  discovered,  the 
French  pressed  on,  many  more  Caribs  fell,  and  at  last, 
on  the  very  edge  of  the  precipice  above  the  sea,  the 
surviving  remnant  was  surrounded  by  overwhelming 
numbers.  Du  Parquet  sent  in  a  herald  to  the  Caribs, 
explaining  how  hopeless  their  position  was,  and  offer- 
ing quarter,  but  to  no  effect.  With  disdainful  smiles, 
one  after  another,  these  last  warriors  of  a  warrior  race 
brandished  their  spears  for  the  last  time,  and  sprang 
with  cries  of  defiance  into  the  sea. 

Good  Father  Labat  tells  with  wonderful  com- 
posure  marvellous   stories   of   African   witchcraft   as 


234        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

practised  by  the  negroes  who  were  brought  over  in  his 
day  to  replace  the  Caribs,  as  unfitted  for  plantation 
work  as  our  Indian  at  home  proved  to  be  for  the  farm. 
For  those  of  us  who  have  to  write  of  the  West  Indies 
in  the  days  of  their  decadence,  it  is,  perhaps,  fortunate 
that  this  chronicle  of  the  splendid  era  is  limited  to  so 
few  copies,  and  that,  as  these  are  chained  in  monastic 
libraries,  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  circulate  at  all. 

There  was  that  certain  captain  of  a  slaver  who  was 
bringing  negroes  from  Guinea  to  Saint  Thomas  when, 
suddenly,  though  the  wind  failed  not,  his  ship  lost  its 
headway  and  hung  motionless  as  within  the  grasp  of 
some  invisible  omnipotent  hand.  The  captain  got  out 
his  boats  and  searched  for  Sargasso  grass  or  some 
other  natural  explanation  of  the  phenomenon,  but  in 
vain.  The  mystery  deepened,  and  the  hours  of  delay 
ran  into  days.  Then  the  fo'c'sle  rumour  reached  the 
cabin  that  there  was  an  Obeah  doctor  on  board  among 
the  slaves,  and  the  captain  called  him  to  him  and 
asked  if  he  could  do  the  wonderful  things  that  were 
reported  of  him. 

"  I  can  if  the  Great  Spirit  wills  it."  He  denied, 
of  course,  having  anything  to  do  with  delaying  the 
ship,  but  when  asked  to  demonstrate  his  power,  said: 

"  You  take  an  orange;  any  whole  orange  on  board, 
do  not  show  it  to  me,  but  hide  it  away  somewhere  on 
the  ship."  This  the  captain  did,  and  then  he  re- 
turned to  the  wizard.  "  To-morrow  at  this  hour  go 
back  to  the  hiding-place,  and  you  will  find  the  orange 
empty,  yet  with  skin  absolutely  intact."  And  it  hap- 
pened as  the  Obeah  man  said.  The  captain  put  his 
ship  about  and  returned  to  the  Guinea  coast,  where 
gladly,  and  in  all  honour,  he  put  the  Obeah  man  on 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        235 

shore.  Though  a  crusader  and  a  man  of  prayer, 
Father  Labat  is  forced  to  admit  that  after  this  the 
barque  had  fair  winds  and  favourable  seas  all  the  way 
from  the  Guinea  Gulf  to  the  West  Indian  haven. 

Again,  in  Saint  Thomas,  the  Father  relates  how  an 
Obeah  man  was  to  be  burnt  as  a  heretic  at  the  stake, 
and  the  Governor  who  presided  was  inclined  to  mock 
the  victim  and  scorn  his  powers. 

"  Is  a  ship  drawing  near,  and  who  is  on  board?  " 
laughed  the  Governor.     "  Can  Obeah  answer?  " 

"  Yes,  if  he  will."  Then  the  Obeah  man  prayed 
for  a  long  time  to  his  fetish,  and  answered  the  Gov- 
ernor, telling  the  name  of  the  ship,  and  who  it  was 
that  sailed  in  her,  and  how  the  great  lady  who  was  ex- 
pected would  never  be  seen  again  of  man,  as  she  was 
dead,  and  had  been  buried  at  sea.  The  Governor  was 
amazed  and  terrified,  for  he  was  expecting  his  wife; 
still  he  persisted  in  the  execution,  and  three  hours  later 
the  mourning-ship  arrived,  demonstrating  the  accuracy 
of  the  Obeah  man's  wonderful  powers. 

Then  there  is  the  story  of  the  little  waif  boy,  whom 
the  priests  had  bought  from  a  slaver  and  put  to  work 
in  the  very  garden  in  which  we  were  seated.  Labat 
relates  how  terrible  the  drought  became,  how  the 
fruit  trees  were  parched,  and  the  vegetables  all  but 
burnt  up.  Nothing  could  save  the  situation  but  a 
copious  and  well  regulated  rain.  The  little  waif  boy 
was  touched  at  the  plight  of  the  Fathers,  who  had 
been  kind  to  him.  He  said  Obeah  could  make  a  great 
rain  if  he  wanted  to,  and  they  told  him  to  do  what  he 
could. 

He  drew  a  circle  on  the  ground,  and  within  it  a 
square,    at  the   four   corners   of  which,   where   they 


236        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

touched  the  circle,  he  placed  some  crumpled  leaves 
from  the  parched  trees.  On  top  of  the  leaves  he 
placed  four  dry  oranges,  one  at  each  corner.  Then 
the  little  waif  fell  down  prone  on  the  ground,  touch- 
ing each  of  the  oranges  with  his  limbs.  Long  he 
prayed,  his  body  rocking,  his  face  contorted,  and  a 
hissing  noise  coming  from  his  lips.  Then,  suddenly, 
so  the  good  Father  relates,  a  little  cloud  appeared  far 
down  on  the  horizon,  the  boy's  eyes  brightened,  but 
his  contortions  and  his  hissing  prayer  continued.  The 
cloud  came  sailing  on  with  tremendous  speed,  growing 
larger  as  it  came,  and,  when  over  the  garden,  opened, 
and  a  wealth  of  water  fell.  The  showers  continued, 
and  the  dried  fruit  became  luscious,  the  vegetables  in 
a  few  days  eatable.  The  situation  was  saved,  and  the 
Fathers  naturally  coddled  the  little  waif,  whose  prayers 
had  stood  them  in  such  good  stead.  And  the  waif  be- 
came a  Christian,  and  a  very  devout  one.  Two  years 
later  another  drought  came,  and,  naturally,  the  making 
of  rain,  which  was  again  so  necessary,  was  referred  to 
him.  The  rain-prayer  failed  this  time,  however,  and 
the  waif  admitted  he  had  become  so  advanced  in  Chris- 
tian doctrine  that  he  had  forgotten  the  words  of  the 
Obeah  incantation,  thus  furnishing  another,  if  very 
early,  example  of  how  very  disappointing  converts  fre- 
quently are. 

I  particularly  love  the  white  Fathers'  story  of  the 
single  combat  between  a  Carib  boy  and  a  shark.  If 
I  am  not  mistaken,  the  Father  saw  it  with  his  own  eyes, 
which  is  well,  as  the  shark  was  about  ten  feet  longer 
than  they  live  to  swim  to-day.  The  combat  opened 
with  the  Carib  boy  laughing  joyously  and  disporting 
himself;  like  the  man-fish,  he  was  in  and  out  of  the 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        237 

crevices  of  the  coral  reef.  An  unsuspected  shark  of 
the  dimensions  to  which  they  do  not  attain  nowadays, 
crept  up  and  snapped  off  one  of  the  boy's  legs.  There 
is  a  half-stifled  cry  of  pain,  and  the  little  chap  limps 
out  on  the  beach,  gathers  a  bunch  of  herbs,  with  which 
he  staunches  the  flow  of  blood  from  his  shattered 
stump,  then,  with  a  jagged-bladed  knife  in  either  hand, 
crooning  a  song  of  revenge,  he  slowly  and  painfully 
swims  back  to  the  little  inlet,  where  the  man-eater 
lurks.  Pretending  not  to  see  him,  the  boy  floats 
quietly  over  the  eager,  expectant  monster;  when,  how- 
ever, the  shark  turns  upward  his  great  white  belly 
and  opens  his  jaws  to  finish  his  uncompleted  meal, 
the  boy  springs  upon  him,  and  gashes  out  in  a  trice 
both  of  his  eyes;  then  he  has  the  chances  nearer  equal, 
and  closes  in  upon  his  antagonist,  slashing  the  white 
belly  until  the  nearby  turquoise  waters  are  red 
with  blood.  The  duel  does  not  end  until  the  dead 
shark  rises,  like  a  log,  to  the  surface.  Then,  the  good 
Father  says,  the  conqueror  swam  to  the  beach,  cele- 
brated his  victory  with  a  joyous  song,  and  a  few 
minutes  later  he,  too,  died,  with  a  happy  smile  upon 
his  face. 

After  listening  to  Pere  Labat's  stories,  and  the  com- 
ments which  the  good  Belgian  Fathers  made,  we  deter- 
mined to  make,  at  the  first  opportunity,  a  pilgrimage 
to  the  east  coast  of  Dominica,  where  the  last  pure- 
blooded  remnants  of  the  vanishing  Caribs  still  live  the 
lives  of  free  men,  scornful  of  tax-collectors  and  of 
school-laws,  and  wearing  no  clothes  to  speak  of. 
There  was  for  many  generations  a  similar  colony  of 
refugees  camped  on  the  slopes  of  the  Soufriere  in  Saint 
Vincent,  but,  in  1902,  they  were  all  destroyed  by  the 


238        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

formidable  eruption,  or,  rather,  by  the  lava  flow  which 
in  a  moment  swept  over  their  village,  leaving,  it  is 
said,  not  a  single  survivor — or  a  trace  of  their  habita- 
tions. 

The  opportunity  to  make  our  pilgrimage  came  one 
night,  a  few  hours  after  our  arrival  in  Roseau,  and 
we  set  out  immediately  through  the  darkness,  aided 
and  abetted  by  an  enthusiastic  English  planter,  who 
had  gone  the  same  path  two  years  before. 

"  You  must  go  to  see  the  Caribs  by  night,"  he  in- 
sisted, "  because  just  at  sunrise  there  is  a  touch  of 
wild  light  in  their  eyes,  which  fades  as  the  days  wear 
on,  and  the  King  is  magnificent.  Only,  don't  stay  with 
him  too  long.  I  did.  The  look  of  disdain  which 
curled  his  lips  when  I  first  saw  him  had  vanished,  and 
his  haughty  carriage  seemed  about  to  relax.  A  sud- 
den panic  seized  me,  and  I  fled  from  the  Carib  court 
circle  somewhat  unceremoniously,  for  I  feared,  and  al- 
most expected,  he  would  come  up  to  me  and  whisper  in 
my  ear,  as  did  a  certain  king  in  the  Blue  Mountains  of 
Jamaica : 

"  '  Buckra !  Won't  you  give  me  a  pair  of  your  old 
shoes?  '  Naturally,  after  this  we  went  by  night,  and 
were  determined  not  to  stay  too  long." 

It  was  a  night  of  steady,  dripping  rain,  which  con- 
verted the  rocky  mountain  passes  through  which  our 
way  led  into  a  very  slippery  foothold  for  our  ponies, 
and  the  little  streams  we  had  expected  to  ford  with 
ease  grew  into  swollen  torrents  before  our  eyes.  Our 
guide  wavered  and  wanted  to  turn  back  several 
times,  but,  intent  on  coming  into  touch  with  people  of 
the  noble  race  who  had  fled  before  the  impact  of  men 
of  our  coarser  mould,  we  held  him  to  his  contract. 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        239 

After  six  hours'  travelling  through  the  night,  the  first 
light  of  dawn  revealed  to  us  the  little  shacks  of  thatch 
in  which  these  refugees  from  civilisation  house. 
These  huts  were  aligned,  somewhat  irregularly,  it  Is 
true,  and  embowered  in  shrubbery,  along  the  bank  of  a 
mountain  stream,  which,  a  few  yards  farther  on,  sud- 
denly ended  its  musical  course  through  the  rock  bar- 
riers, and,  with  a  wild  cry  of  freedom,  sprang  into  the 
ocean  that  lay  so  still  fifty  feet  below. 

For  a  moment  we  thought  we  had  come  too  late,  and 
that  the  secluded  camp  was  deserted.  Not  a  soul  was 
stirring;  still  we  remained  concealed  in  the  shrubbery, 
and  at  last  our  patience  was  rewarded.  One  by  one, 
and  without  a  word  to  each  other,  several  young  men 
came  out  of  the  silent  huts,  slipped  down  the  moun- 
tain-side, and  plunged  into  the  ocean.  For  a  few  mo- 
ments, like  porpoises,  and  quite  as  silent  in  their  play, 
they  plunged  and  gambolled  about,  and  then,  with  great 
overarm  strokes,  came  swimming  back  to  the  shore. 
Other  forms  were  stirring  now  in  and  about  the  straw- 
huts,  and  when  the  bathers  seated  themselves  upon  the 
rocks  which  dotted  the  strand,  their  women  came  down 
to  them  with  strange  guttural  cries,  and  gave  them 
their  morning  smokes  of  loosely-rolled  tobacco-leaves. 
Then,  slowly  and  lovingly,  they  streaked  and  smeared 
the  still  dripping  bodies  of  the  returned  swimmers  with 
a  yellow  ochre  chalk  or  paint.  A  moment  later  the 
young  men  were  gone,  darting  out  through  the  breakers 
in  their  canoes,  with  the  wonderful  watermanship 
which  is  their  still  unimpaired  inheritance  from  the  fif- 
teenth-century Caribs,  who  astonished  Columbus  and 
the  early  navigators  with  their  aquatic  exploits. 

You  say,  when  you  have  seen  the  Kanakas  of  the 


240        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

South  Seas  or  the  surf-boys  of  West  Africa,  plying 
their  trade:  "What  a  mastery  over  their  craft  these 
men  possess!  "  With  the  Kanakas  and  the  Kroo  boys 
their  mastery  of  their  boats  is  marvellous  and  un- 
deniable. But  here,  with  the  Carib,  the  born  water- 
man, his  craft  would  seem  harmoniously  blended  with 
his  body,  and  the  prow  answers  to  his  impulses  as  does 
an  arm  or  a  leg  to  the  nerve  centres  of  a  well-trained 
athlete,  with  every  member  well  in  hand. 

With  the  young  men  gone,  and  the  young  women, 
all  of  whom  were  straight  of  form,  lithe,  and  comely, 
retired  to  their  huts  and  household  duties,  the  little 
village  of  Salybia  was  a  dreary  enough  place,  and  we 
began  to  sigh  even  for  such  civilisation  as  Roseau  un- 
folds, and  more,  even,  for  the  wild  beauty  of  the 
mountain  passes  through  which  we  had  groped  our 
way  in  the  darkness.  When  we  came  out  of  hiding, 
we  were  personally  conducted  about  the  village  by  the 
King,  who,  we  understood,  had  achieved  this  proud 
position,  not  by  birth,  but  by  reason  of  seniority.  He 
was  a  dried-up  little  man,  who  had  evidently  attained 
a  very  great  age,  and  he  showed  more  signs  of  the 
negroid  admixture  than  any  of  his  subjects.  We  were 
not  invited  to  enter  any  of  the  thatched  huts,  but,  as 
far  as  we  could  see  from  the  outside,  they  differed  in 
no  wise  from  the  usual  habitations  of  the  negro 
islanders.  Once  a  party  of  the  distant  fishermen  came 
spinning  over  the  sea  towards  the  landing-beach.  They 
had  evidently  caught  sight  of  us,  and  were  alarmed 
or,  perhaps,  merely  curious.  As  they  sent  their  boats 
through  the  water,  propelled  at  a  tremendous  speed 
through  the  now  rising  surf,  the  sun  was  mirrored  on 
their  slight,  but  wonderfully  proportioned  bodies.     In 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        241 

the  sunlight,  at  least,  their  skins  took  on  a  golden 
bronze  hue,  the  like  of  which  I  have  never  seen 
among  any  other  of  the  copper-coloured  races. 

But  as  they  drew  nearer,  doubtless  seeing  us  tran- 
quilly engaged  in  bartering  with  their  King  man  for 
limes  and  for  several  of  the  wonderfully  woven  baskets 
for  which  these  Caribs  are  famous,  the  fishing  braves 
put  their  boats  about  and  went  back  again,  singing  as 
they  went  to  the  warm  sun  banks,  where  the  great  sea 
fish  they  sought  love  to  warm  themselves.  As  they 
rowed  they  sang  a  song  we  did  not  understand,  but 
certainly  the  cadence  was  exceedingly  mournful.  Our 
negro  guide,  however,  who  did  not  seek  to  conceal  the 
disdain  in  which  he  held  the  shiftless  Caribs,  natural, 
perhaps,  in  a  man  who  had  served  his  King  in  the  West 
India  regiment,  and  hoped  to  become  an  insular  con- 
stable some  day,  translated  it  as  follows : 

"  In  olden  times  we  were  men  and  ate  our  enemies, 
Now  we  are  women  and  only  eat  Cassava  cakes." 

Our  barter  with  the  King  for  baskets  proved  the 
entering-wedge  of  commercialism.  The  monarch  re- 
laxed, and  there  were  symptoms  of  approaching  talk 
about  old  shoes  and  other  worn-out  baubles  of  our 
artificial  civilisation.  So,  as  the  sun  began  to  climb 
towards  its  zenith,  and  flood  the  dark  mountain  paths 
with  its  light  and  warmth,  we  left  the  Carib  reserva- 
tion. 

It  was  an  interesting  experience,  and  one  which  I 
am  not  likely  to  forget,  and  can  only  recommend  the 
little  journey  as  being  worth  the  trouble  to  those  who 
come  this  way.     We  certainly  had  the  feeling,  or  illu- 


242        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

slon,  if  you  will,  that  we  had  seen  the  aboriginal  West 
Indians  much  as  Columbus  presented  them  to  the 
astonished  gaze  of  the  Catholic  Kings.  The  Caribs 
of  Dominica  may  not  be  absolutely  pure  in  blood, 
though  this  virtue  is  claimed  for  many  of  them  by 
several  distinguished  authorities  living  on  the  island. 
Even  to  the  untrained  eye  of  the  unscientific  observer 
these  men,  or  the  majority  of  them,  show  a  cranial 
formation  and  a  colour  of  skin  that  betrays  a  to  us  new 
ethnological  type.  The  resplendent  colour  of  their 
skins,  especially  when  wet  from  their  morning  swim, 
and  standing  in  the  sunlight,  is  the  impression  that 
will  always  remain  with  me.  Altogether,  they  were 
in  their  ways  and  in  their  appearance  of  their  own 
kind,  and  that  is  a  kind  quite  different  from  their 
cousins,  the  black  Caribs  of  Ruatan,  off  the  Central 
American  coast,  from  the  Arawaks  of  Guiana,  or  the 
numberless  tribes  of  copper-coloured  men  who  disport 
themselves  in  and  out  of  the  waters  of  Malaysia. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Orphans  of  the  Conquest  (continued) 

In  grouping  the  larger  and  more  civilised  islands  of 
the  British  West  Indies  *  with  the  other  orphans  of  the 
conquest,  as  I  have  found  it  convenient  to  do,  I  feel 
called  upon  to  say  that,  while  the  economic  conditions 
in  all  the  islands  are  much  the  same,  the  political  and 
educational  standards  are  as  far  apart  as  the  poles. 
There  can  be  no  comparison  between  the  average 
Guadeloupian,  the  Saint  Thomas  "  boys  "  of  the  King 
of  Denmark,  and  the  loyal  black  subjects  of  the  British 
Crown  resident  in  the  West  Indies.  The  British 
blacks  show  in  their  way  of  living  and  their  general 
deportment  and  intelligence  that  the  efforts  which  have 
been  made  for  generations  to  improve  their  social  effi- 
ciency have  not  been  made  in  vain.  For  many  years 
past  an  education  of  a  high  order  has  been  within  the 
reach  of  the  Jamaican  and  Barbadian  blacks,  and  many 
thousands  of  them  have  availed  themselves  to  the  full- 
est extent  of  their  opportunities.  If  there  are  any- 
where in  the  world  coloured  men  ripe  for  self-govern- 
ment, they  are  to  be  found  In  Barbados  and  Jamaica. 
For  generations  past  high  offices  in  these  islands  have 
been  open  to  the  deserving.  Irrespective  of  colour,  and 
during  this  period  at  least  one  negro  rose  to  be  Chief 

♦Trade  returns  and  other  statistics  concerning  the  British  islands 
are  given  in  Appendix  G,  Notes  I  and  II,  pages  447 — 448. 

243 


244        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Justice  of  Barbados,  and  left  behind  him  an  enviable 
name. 

The  colour  question  is  not  dormant  in  the  British 
islands,  however,  and  those  who  think  so  are  simply 
deceiving  themselves.  The  race  antagonism  is  rising, 
and  there  are  signs  here,  too,  of  a  coming  conflict, 
though  they  are  not  so  emphatic  and  unmistakable  as 
in  the  other  islands.  I  was  impressed  wherever  I  went 
in  the  British  islands  with  the  even-handed  justice  which 
the  Blacks  receive  at  the  hands  of  the  authorities, 
with  the  efforts  which  are  constantly  being  made  to  in- 
crease the  number  and  the  accessibility  of  the  primary 
schools,  and,  above  all,  to  assist  the  peasant  and  land- 
less class  to  secure  small  holdings  of  their  own.  In 
the  British  islands,  at  least,  the  negro  is  given  a  chance 
to  escape  the  toils  of  the  demagogue  and  the  race-war 
preacher,  and  in  many  instances  they  have  taken  the 
chance  and  stood  by  it.  The  achievements  of  the  great 
British  administrators  in  India  and  in  Egypt  have  chal- 
lenged the  admiration  of  the  civilised  world,  and  in 
the  West  Indies  they  deserve  in  equal  measure  our 
praise  and  thanks. 

Barbados,  the  easternmost  of  the  Caribbees,  only  has 
an  area  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-six  square  miles, 
upon  which  over  two  hundred  thousand  people  have  to 
be  supported.  The  little  island  is  consequently  the 
most  densely  populated  country  on  the  globe,  outside 
of  China.  Barbados  is  very  long  on  history,  and  long 
on  health,  and  somewhat  bumptiously  proud  of  both 
these  favours  of  fortune.  On  account  of  the  island's 
historical  record  as  a  faithful  loyal  colony  of  Eng- 
land since  its  discovery  in  1605,  the  inhabitants  feel 
entitled  to  call  it  a   "  Little  England,"   and,   as  for 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        245 

health,  when  a  few  cases  of  smallpox  occurred  a  few 
years  ago,  the  Barbadians  concluded  that  the  end  of 
the  world  was  very  near,  that  nothing  else  could  have 
disturbed  the  continuance  of  the  fine  bill-of-health  the 
island  has  always  enjoyed.  Certainly  Barbados  is 
very  healthy;  it  contains  no  swamps,  and  lying,  as  it 
does,  far  out  at  sea,  it  is  continually  swept  by  sea- 
breezes  day  and  night.  The  sun  and  the  wind  have 
created  a  climatic  condition  which  is  extremely  favour- 
able to  longevity,  as  the  statistics  show,  and  for  many 
hundred  years  the  island  has  served  as  a  health  resort 
and  a  recruiting  station  for  those  whose  pursuits  led 
them  into  the  malarial  districts  of  the  mainland.  In  no 
country  in  the  world  have  I  been  so  impressed  by 
the  teeming  population  of  negroes;  negro  babies  sprawl 
everywhere.  After  one  or  two  narrow  escapes  from 
crushing  a  hopeful  olive  branch  under  foot,  the  tourist 
is  possessed  with  a  panic,  and  at  times  grows  afraid 
to  put  his  raised  foot  to  the  ground.  Around  the  cap- 
ital, the  chief  wealth  seems  to  be  goats.  Fencing  is  not 
indulged  in,  but  every  goat  is  herded  by  a  little  pic- 
caninny to  whom  the  animal  is  tethered. 

Bridgetown,  the  only  port  and  commercial  city  of  the 
island,  is  also  its  capital,  and  it  dates  back  to  the  year 
1627.  Practically,  the  port  is  merely  an  open  road- 
stead, but  a  great  deal  of  shipping  is  concentrated 
here,  and  a  great  business  transacted  without  much 
delay.  Like  Ireland  and  Russia,  Barbados  has  a  land 
question  which  is  at  times  discussed  in  anything  but 
a  judicial  manner.  There  are  no  crown  lands  here, 
as  in  the  other  islands,  and  as  yet  no  abandoned  estates 
which  can  be  squatted  upon;  practically  all  the  hold- 
ings are  in  the  hands  of  planters  who,  while  they  are 


246        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

not  very  prosperous,  do  not  care  to  dispose  of  their 
landed  possessions.  The  result  is  that  the  black  la- 
bourer, to  have  the  use  of  a  garden,  the  smallest  kind 
of  a  "  land  spot,"  as  they  are  called,  must  pay  rent, 
which,  of  course,  fills  him  with  indignation. 

The  island  was  visited  first  by  Sir  Olive  Leigh,  in 
April,  1605,  but  no  permanent  settlement  was  effected 
until  twenty  years  after  the  colony  of  Jamestown  in 
Virginia  was  settled.  The  site  of  this  settlement  is 
now  called  Hole  Town,  and  is  only  about  seven  miles 
distant  from  Bridgetown.  A  few  ruins  and  a  few 
tombs  only  remain,  and  it  is  strange  to  contemplate  the 
desolate  scene,  and  think  that  here  a  colony  was 
founded  which,  for  a  time,  far  outshone  the  Virginia 
settlements,  and  was  considered  to  be  of  much  greater 
importance  than  the  colonies  on  the  mainland. 
W^hether  the  story  be  true  or  not,  and  I  have  never  seen 
any  very  convincing  statement  of  the  matter,  that  the 
shipload  of  colonists  who  settled  in  the  Barbadian 
Jamestown  were  really  bound  for  the  Virginia  Capes, 
and  were  driven  out  of  their  course  by  a  storm,  I  do  not 
know,  but  it  is  certain  that  from  the  earliest  days  of 
their  history  the  ties  between  the  Island  and  the  con- 
tinental colony  were  very  close.  In  Saint  Michael's 
churchyard  in  Bridgetown  the  tombs,  for  a  tropical 
graveyard,  are  in  wonderful  repair.  The  dates  run 
well  back  Into  the  seventeenth  century,  and  the  names 
are  the  same  as  those  of  the  planter  families  which 
existed  In  Virginia  before  the  Civil  War.  In  the 
Governor's  room  in  the  Government  House  is  a  care- 
fully treasured  copy  of  one  of  the  earlier  surveys  of 
the  Island,  and  again  the  roster  of  the  owners  sounded 
like  a  list  of  the  delegates  from  the  James  River  Hun- 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        247 

dreds  to  the  first  Assembly  in  America.  It  was  prob- 
ably in  recognition  of  this  tie  and  intimacy  that  Bar- 
bados was  the  scene  and  the  object  of  George  Wash- 
ington's only  journey  outside  of  his  native  land. 

Though  doubtless  very  few  of  them  know  it,  the 
thousands  of  American  tourists  who  every  winter  make 
a  cruise  in  the  Caribbean,  are,  for  once  at  least,  as  all 
good  Americans  should  do,  following  in  the  footsteps 
of  the  Father  of  our  Country.  The  Caribbean  was 
the  scene  of  George  Washington's  only  holiday  jaunt, 
and  the  island  of  Barbados  the  farthest  point  reached. 
Hoping  that  the  "  sweet  climate  "  of  the  West  Indies 
would  mend  the  health  of  his  brother,  Lawrence  Wash- 
ington, who  had  been  invalided  ever  since  the  expedi- 
tion against  Cartagena,  in  which  he  served  on  Admiral 
Vernon's  staff,  the  young  Washingtons  sailed  from  the 
Virginia  Capes  on  September  28,  175 1,  and  landed, 
after  experiences  which  cannot  be  duplicated  to-day, 
more  than  a  month  later  at  Georgetown,  Barbados. 
Here  the  youthful  George  witnessed  his  first  play,  the 
tragedy  of  "  George  Barnwell."  In  his  diary  he  cau- 
tiously remarks  that  the  roles  "  were  said  to  be  well 
performed." 

The  Virginians  dined  at  Judge  Maynard's,  also  at 
the  Beefsteak  and  Tripe  Club,  which  took  the  place 
of  the  "  ice-houses  "  and  the  country  clubs  of  to-day. 
They  were  widely  entertained,  and  George  enumerated 
with  evident  appreciation  the  luscious  tropical  fruits 
which  he  enjoyed,  such  as  the  "  granadilla,  the  sapa- 
della,  the  pomegranat,  sweet  orange,  water  melon,  and 
the  forbidden  fruit,  guava."  In  the  midst  of  these 
tropical  experiences,  George  Washington  was  stricken 
with  a  severe  case  of  small-pox,  which  left  him  marked 


248        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

for  life.  However,  by  February  i,  1752,  the  young 
travellers  were  back  olf  the  Virginia  Capes,  after  "  five 
weeks  of  stormy  sea-faring."  "  We  soon  tired  of  the 
same  prospect,"  writes  Lawrence  Washington.  "  No 
place  can  please  me  without  a  change  of  season."  The 
travelling  was  very  different  in  those  days,  and  the 
tourist  in  the  Caribbean  to-day  will  never  realise  what 
those  six  or  eight  weeks,  cooped  up  in  a  schooner  whose 
decks  were  generally  awash,  must  have  been.  George 
was  soon  to  heir  Mount  Vernon  from  his  unfortunate 
brother,  and  was  shocked  at  the  extravagance  and  the 
resulting  embarrassment  of  the  West  Indian  planters. 
He  writes  in  his  diary  with  the  pathos  of  a  landless 
m.an,  though  he  was  to  attain  the  largest  estate  in  the 
colonies:  "  How  persons  coming  to  estates  of  three  or 
four  hundred  acres  can  want  is  to  me  most  wonderful." 
Some  years  later  this  puzzle  of  his  youth  was  quite 
clear  to  the  Squire  of  Pohunk  Creek. 

Barbados  possesses  representative  institutions,  but 
does  not  enjoy  complete  autonomy.  It  has  a  govern- 
ment more  nearly  responsible  to  the  people  than  any 
of  the  other  British  West  Indies,  and  the  House  of 
Assembly  is  the  most  ancient  legislative  body  in  the 
Empire,  with  the  exception  of  the  House  of  Commons 
and  the  Assembly  in  Bermuda.  The  members  of  the 
Assembly  are  elected  by  the  respective  parishes  into 
which  the  Colony  is  divided  for  administrative  as  well 
as  church  purposes,  and  in  this  and  in  many  other  ways 
resembles  the  House  of  Burgesses,  as  constituted  in 
Virginia  down  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  Gov- 
ernment consists  of  a  nominated  Legislative  Council  of 
nine  members,  presided  over  by  the  Governor  and  a 
House  of  Assembly,  consisting  of  twenty-four  mem- 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        249 

bers,  elected  annually  on  the  basis  of  a  broad  but  not 
universal  franchise.  In  September,  1908,  I  was  in 
Bridgetown  when  the  Assembly  met,  and  was  present 
when  the  Speaker,  according  to  the  ancient  custom,  de- 
manded of  the  King's  representative,  in  this  instance 
the  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  formal  recognition  of  the 
Assembly's  ancient  rights  and  privileges  before  pro- 
ceeding to  take  up  their  legislative  tasks.  By  fair 
dealing  with  the  coloured  population,  the  whites, 
though  an  exceedingly  small  minority  of  the  registered 
voters,  are  in  an  overpowering  majority  in  the  As- 
sembly, There  are  indications,  however,  that  this 
state  of  affairs  is  not  at  all  likely  to  continue.  During 
my  stay  in  the  capital  there  was  a  very  hotly  contested 
election  for  the  representation  of  the  business  quarter 
of  the  town.  The  negroes  ran  a  straight  black  can- 
didate, and  he  came  very  near  winning  the  day.  To 
prevent  this  misfortune,  the  English  and  the  white 
voters  selected  as  their  candidate  a  Portuguese  Jew, 
and,  thanks  to  the  Jewish  and  the  Portuguese  votes, 
their  candidate,  though  by  no  means  a  pink-and  white 
Englishman,  pulled  through  with  about  twenty  votes  to 
spare.  At  present  there  is  only  one  negro  Assembly- 
man, but  it  is  not  likely  that  he  will  remain  much  longer 
in  his  lonely  and  unenviable  position.  In  Barbados, 
as  everywhere  else  in  the  West  Indies,  unfortunately, 
the  race  question  is  becoming  a  political  factor,  and 
the  complexion  of  the  candidate  is  regarded  quite  as 
closely  as  his  political  platform. 

There  Is  no  denying  the  fact  that  the  Barbadian  and 
the  Jamaican  negro  is  a  trial  to  the  patience.  If  you 
expect  and  require  work  and  prompt  service  at  his 
hands.     They  have,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  many  use- 


250        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

ful  and  solid  qualities,  but  they  certainly  lack  that 
charm  and  spontaneity  which  redeem  many  faults  in 
our  own  negro.  Many  years  ago  Cardinal  Lavlgerle, 
the  great  French  Primate  of  Africa,  told  me  that  it  was 
the  dream  of  his  life  that  some  day  the  American  negro 
would  bethink  him  of  his  racial  responsibility,  and 
return  to  the  Dark  Continent  to  awaken  and  arouse  the 
millions  who  are  sleeping  there  in  ignorance  and  In 
sloth.  The  Primate  of  Africa  died  without  his  call 
having  awakened  response  in  the  bosom  of  the  Amer- 
ican negro,  but,  some  months  ago,  in  a  Panama  Canal 
Zone  police  court,  I  chanced  upon  a  missionary  inci- 
dent which,  while  it  proceeded  along  different  lines, 
seems  to  have  had  the  same  lofty  purpose  as  that  which 
stirred  the  blood  of  the  good  archbishop. 

An  American  cornfield  darky,  livid  and  sweating 
with  terror,  stood  before  the  stern  judge.  He  was 
charged  with  attempted  manslaughter  en  masse.  A 
dozen  negro  witnesses  swore,  in  chosen  words,  clothed 
in  high-church  accents,  that  our  fellow  countryman 
had,  In  a  moment  of  insanity  or  of  intoxication — they 
would  not  be  precise — chased  half  a  hundred  Barbadian 
negroes  five  miles  over  the  Continental  divide,  and 
that,  when  the  police  came  and  he  was  disarmed,  there 
was  a  razor  In  each  of  his  clenched  hands. 

"  Law  bless  you,  Judge,"  explained  the  prisoner,  "  I 
never  meant  no  harm;  all  these  boys  had  fallen  asleep 
at  their  shovels,  and  I  thought  I  ought  to  wake  'em 
up,  and  I  jes'  had  the  razor  in  my  hand  w^hen  the 
thought  came;  but,  Lor',  Judge,  I  wouldn't  have  cut 
'em  any  more  than  I'd  cut  up  so  many  canary  birds. 
As  a  brother  black  man,  says  I  to  myself,  you  ought  to 
wake  'em  up." 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        251 

He  certainly  did.  It  was  a  week  before  this  sec- 
tion of  the  Canal  Zone  resumed  its  accustomed  air  of 
tranquillity.  Some  of  the  plaintiffs,  however,  even 
asserted  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  sleep  since; 
their  nerves  were  all  "  onstrung."  The  judge  glared 
at  our  countryman,  and  his  words  were  sharp  and  in- 
cisive, but  when  his  sentence  was  recorded  it  was  evi- 
dent that  he  had  taken  into  consideration  certain  ex- 
tenuating circumstances,  which  all  will  appreciate  who 
have  seen  the  West  Indian  negro  at  work  or  at  play. 

After  this  somewhat  sweeping  assertion,  it  is  only 
fair  to  say  that  a  great  change  has  come  over  the  Bar- 
badian and  the  Jamaican  blacks  working  on  the  Canal. 
Now,  that  they  are  receiving  a  man's  rations,  pay,  and 
lodgings;  now,  that  they  no  longer  live,  or,  rather, 
subsist,  like  the  furtive  scavengers  of  the  fields,  their 
daily  output  or  stint  of  work  is  more  nearly  approach- 
ing our  standard  of  what  a  day's  work  should  be.  The 
Panama  Problem  is  yet  unsolved,  and  will  remain  so 
until  the  ships  go  steaming  through  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  but  in  the  meantime  the  great  work  is  finding 
solutions  for  many  of  the  problems  of  West  Indian 
life. 

Saint  Kitts,  generally  called  "  Sinkets  "  by  its  inhab- 
itants, is  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  ancient  a  colony  as 
Barbados,  but  in  other  respects  its  destinies  have  been 
very  different.  Barbados  has  remained  in  the  un- 
disturbed possession  of  the  English  crown  since  1625, 
and  practically  the  only  wars  it  has  known  have  been 
between  its  own  Cavaliers  and  Roundheads.  On  the 
other  hand,  Saint  Kitts  furnished  the  stage  upon  which 
the  century-long  war  between  France  and  England 
for  the  sugar  islands  was  fought  out.     However,  all 


252        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

this  ended  with  the  Treaty  of  Versailles  in  1783,  and 
the  island  became  finally  English  at  the  same  time  that 
the  independence  of  the  continental  colonies  was 
recognized. 

Possibly,  as  the  KIttefonians  pretend,  their  island  at- 
tracted from  England  a  gentler  class  of  settlers.  It 
is  certain  that  at  one  time  great  luxury  of  living  pre- 
vailed, and  estates  were  mortgaged  in  reckless  con- 
fidence of  coming  crops.  The  sugar  squires  have  all 
gone  to  their  rest  now  in  Middle  Island  churchyard, 
and  their  descendants  are,  as  a  rule,  following  the  sea 
in  distant  parts  of  the  world.  The  first  Kittefonian 
I  ever  met  was  out  in  Siam,  where  he  was  first  officer 
of  a  tramp  steamer,  gathering  in  a  copra  cargo  some- 
where off  the  Pepper  Coast.  He  always  had  an  eye 
on  the  sugar  market,  however,  and  cherished  the  hope 
that  one  day  improving  prices  would  permit  him  to  re- 
turn to  the  plantation  which  at  the  time  he  had  left 
in  the  hands  of  the  blacks.  For  an  island  that  has 
made  so  much  noise  in  the  world,  Saint  Kitts  is  very 
small,  only  about  seventy  square  miles  in  area.  Basse 
Terre,  the  chief  port,  is  rather  squalid,  and  overrun 
with  apparently  starving  negroes.  To-day,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact.  Saint  Kitts  is  chiefly  remarkable  in  that  it 
is  the  only  fragment  of  the  New  World  which  Colum- 
bus named  after  himself,  or,  rather,  after  his  name- 
saint. 

In  the  middle  of  the  island  rises  Mount  Misery,  a 
fairly  quiescent  volcano  with  an  undeniable  crater  in- 
side the  peak,  and  a  number  of  sulphur  vents  and 
fumaroles.  Many  people  think,  and  some  scientists 
explain  why.  Mount  Misery  may  become  active  at 
any  moment,  but  the  present-day  KIttefonians  have  too 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        253 

many  actual  pressing  cares  to  worry  about  problem- 
atical ones  of  the  future.  The  view  from  the  sum- 
mit of  this  volcanic  cone  is  very  magnificent  and  well 
worth  the  climb,  which  is  an  easy  one,  especially  when 
made  half-way  on  pony-back.  Partly  concealed  under 
the  leeward  slope  of  Mount  Misery,  on  the  Caribbean 
side  of  the  island,  crumble  and  decay  the  ruins  of  the 
famous  Brimstone  Hill  Citadel.  Several  million 
sterling  are  said  to  have  been  expended  upon  this 
useless  fortress  that  was  known  so  long  as  the  Gibraltar 
of  the  West  Indies,  though  it  commands  no  strait 
of  any  particular  strategical  importance.  To-day  the 
bastians  and  the  casemates  of  the  fortress  are  deserted 
save  for  the  wild  monkeys,  which  are  very  numerous. 

I  confess  that  the  visit  to  Saint  Kitts,  which  I  remem- 
ber with  most  pleasure,  was  one  in  which  I  did  not 
reach  land.  We  were  running  before  a  northeaster 
which,  on  the  Dominican  coast,  developed  into  some- 
thing approaching  a  cyclone.  We  were  evidently  a 
full  hundred  miles  to  the  eastward  of  the  storm  centre, 
and  only  suffered  from  a  tremendous  sea,  until  we  came 
off  Basse  Terre.  This  is,  at  best,  an  open  roadstead, 
and,  with  such  a  sea  as  prevailed,  a  landing  was  impos- 
sible. Our  captain  was  a  Nova  Scotia  "  Bluenose," 
and  he  was  not  satisfied  of  this  until  he  had  smashed 
two  of  his  long-boats,  and  had  experienced  the  greatest 
difficulty  in  rescuing  the  half-drowned  crews  from  the 
water.  The  unseasonable  weather  was  particularly 
annoying,  because  It  was  here  that  our  cargo  crew 
was  to  come  on  board.  To  avoid  quarantine  and 
other  troubles,  it  has  become  the  custom  In  the  West 
Indies  for  the  large  steamers  to  enroll  a  working-crew 
at  one  of  the  islands,  and  keep  them  on  board  until  the 


254         THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

cargo  is  completed,  and  the  ship  is  ready  to  return  to 
American  or  European  ports,  whichever  may  be  its 
destination.  In  this  way  innumerable  fights  with  the 
local  cargadores  are  avoided,  and  it  is  also  possible  to 
discharge  cargo  into  lighters  off  an  infected  port  with- 
out invalidating  the  steamer's  bill-of-health. 

I  cannot  recall  ever  having  seen  seas  running  so  high 
or  so  irregularly.  We  imagined  that  Jacob,  the  smok- 
ing-room steward,  a  famous  cricketer,  who  had  played 
for  the  West  Indies  in  the  Jubilee  matches  in  London, 
was  joking  when  he  grumbled  about  having  to  go 
ashore.  It  appeared,  however,  that  his  vacation  was 
due,  and  permission  had  been  given  to  him  to  leave 
the  ship  before  we  left  New  York.  While  Jacob,  who 
was  as  black  as  coal,  grumbled  not  a  little  at  his  bad 
luck,  the  captain  could  not  persuade  him,  and,  appar- 
ently, did  not  want  to  forbid  him  to  go  ashore.  After 
taking  off  his  shoes  and  wrapping  them  up  in  a  bundle 
that  he  tied  around  his  neck,  of  all  places  in  the  world! 
Jacob  jumped  overboard  while  we  were  steaming  to 
and  fro  at  least  two  miles  from  shore.  We  never 
caught  sight  of  him  again,  and  I  thought  that  Jacob, 
the  famous  cricketer,  at  last  had  been  bowled  out. 

Signals  were  passed  constantly  between  the  ship  and 
the  agent  on  shore.  He  had  hopes  of  the  weather 
moderating,  and  we  remained  in  the  offing  for  three  or 
four  anything  but  pleasant  hours;  then,  to  our  utter 
amazement,  the  weather  not  having  improved  in  the 
least,  the  signal  came:  "  I  shall  send  the  working-crew 
out  to  you  at  all  hazards." 

Our  skipper  steamed  in  as  near  as  he  dared,  but  we 
were  still  a  mile  and  a  half  off  shore.  The  news  of 
what  was  to  be  attempted  must  have  spread  like  wild- 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        255 

fire  through  the  island,  for  the  beach  and  the  hills  be- 
hind were  black  with  people.  All  Saint  Kitts  was  there 
to  lend  a  hand,  and  to  witness  the  foolhardy  enter- 
prise. Too  many  got  on  the  little  landing  stage, 
which  collapsed  into  the  water,  and  three  or  four  hun- 
dred men  and  women  made  their  way  to  the  shore 
again  through  the  surf  without  apparently  any 
casualties.  At  last  we  saw  the  long-boat,  manned  by 
sixteen  oars,  leave  the  shore  line  and  draw  slowly  near 
the  breakers.  In  a  moment  it  was  in  the  vortex,  and 
then  we  could  see  nothing.  A  minute  later  there  ap- 
peared a  boat  floating  upside  down,  and  fifteen  or 
twenty  black  specks  became  visible  in  thewhite,  foaming 
surge.  A  groan  of  despair  went  up  from  the  ten  thou- 
sand spectators  on  shore,  and  it  reached  us  in  the  oflling 
against  the  northeaster  that  was  blowing.  However, 
all  the  swimmers  reached  the  shore,  were  rubbed  down, 
filled  with  whiskey  by  the  company's  agent,  and,  I  hear, 
encouraged  to  make  another  attempt  in  what  was  rep- 
resented to  be  a  better  boat.  Three  times  they  tried, 
and  three  times  their  boat  was  capsized,  and  they  had 
to  make  the  best  of  their  way  through  the  raging, 
smashing  surf,  and  in  the  terrific  undertow,  to  the 
shore. 

After  the  failure  of  the  third  attempt,  I  saw  through 
my  fieldglass  the  cargo  boys  get  together  and  turn  their 
backs  upon  the  agent.  They  had  a  long  confab,  and 
my  amazement  was  no  greater  than  that  of  the  cap- 
tain, when  we  saw  them  again  strip  off  their  outer 
garments,  tie  them  in  little  bundles  around  their  necks, 
and  start  slowly  and  resolutely  for  the  surf  line.  Our 
captain  whistled  his  disapproval,  but  apparently 
nothing  could  deter  these  daring  swimmers.     You  see, 


256        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

It  was  not  merely  a  job  for  a  day — it  was  a  job  for 
three  weeks  that  was  in  jeopardy,  a  job  for  which  they 
are  paid  at  the  magnificent  rate  of  forty  cents  a  day. 

Under  his  rough  exterior,  our  skipper,  like  most  sea 
dogs,  concealed  a  good  heart.  He  took  some  risk 
that  afternoon  putting  the  tempest-tossed  steamer 
nearer  than  he  should  hav^e  done  to  the  surf  line.  It 
was  still  a  swim  of  ov^er  a  mile  practically  in  the  teeth 
of  a  hurricane;  but  every  one  of  the  cargo-boys  ac- 
complished It,  some  In  two  hours,  some  in  four,  but  at 
last  we  pulled  them  one  and  all  on  board.  Whiskey 
flowed  like  water,  and  as  we  steamed  away  from  our 
dangerous  situation  the  cargo-boys  sat  down  to  a,  for 
them,  very  unusual  dinner.  I  have  seen  many  re- 
markable swimmers  in  my  day,  but  never  a  feat  to 
equal  this.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  these 
men  were  simply  cargo-workers,  and  not  chosen  for 
their  aquatic  skill.  They  one  and  all  swam  Vv^ith  a 
strong  overarm  stroke,  and  kept  their  heads  and  shoul- 
ders surprisingly  high  out  of  the  water.  Halfway  to 
shore  they  met  Jacob,  the  smoking-room  steward,  and 
they  reported  him  in  good  wind  and  cheerful,  and 
that  night,  off  Antigua,  we  received  a  telegram  an- 
nouncing that  Jacob  had  duly  arrived,  and  was  begin- 
ning In  a  somewhat  boisterous  manner  the  vacation  he 
had  entered  upon  In  such  an  unusual  way. 

Jamaica,  "  land  of  springs  and  streams,"  lies  almost 
due  south  of  New  York,  and  distant  about  fifteen  hun- 
dred miles.  It  Is  only  five  hundred  and  forty  miles 
northeast  of  the  entrance  to  the  Panama  Canal,  and  a 
few  miles  south  of  Cuba,  so  its  geographical  position 
brings  it  Into  very  close  touch  with  the  coming  coun- 
tries of  the  Caribbean.     Its  area  is  about  four  thousand 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        257 

two  hundred  square  miles,  and  it  is,  I  think,  though 
many  have  a  preference  for  Trinidad,  the  most 
valuable  British  possession  in  these  seas.  Kingston, 
the  seat  of  government  and  commercial  port  of  the 
island,  was  largely  destroyed  by  the  earthquake  and 
the  subsequent  fires  of  January,  1907.  It  was  the 
largest  city  in  the  British  West  Indies,  having  a  pop- 
ulation of  over  fifty  thousand.  Phoenixlike,  Kingston 
has  risen  from  its  ashes,  and  will  soon  reassume  its 
former  Importance.  It  Is  naturally  an  unattractive  city, 
hot  and  very  dusty,  and  the  ravages  of  the  earthquake 
seemed  to  me  an  opportunity  to  transfer  the  seat  of 
government  to  Spanish  Town,  or  some  other  equally 
suitable  place.  However,  commercial  considerations 
decided  the  question,  which  was  never  officially  raised, 
but  only  whispered.  It  Is  certain  that  as  a  half-way 
port  between  our  maritime  states  of  the  Atlantic  Sea- 
board and  the  Panama  Canal,  Kingston  and  Its  harbour 
will  always  be  of  great  Importance  to  the  United 
States. 

The  environs  of  Kingston  are  as  beautiful  as  Is  the 
city  Itself  hopelessly  plain  and  unattractive.  The  vari- 
ous gardens  and  botanical  stations,  all  easily  accessible, 
and  furnished  with  elaborate  testing  machinery  and 
appliances  for  the  cultivation  of  better  agricultural 
methods,  indicate  the  conscientious  administration 
which  the  British  Government,  at  least  throughout  the 
nineteenth  century,  has  been  at  pains  to  maintain  here. 
On  the  whole,  this  has  been  a  thankless  task,  without, 
of  recent  years  at  least,  any  of  the  financial  reward  that 
India  has  afforded.  Nevertheless,  England  has  given 
her  best  men  and  her  best  thought  to  the  condition  of 
the  black  Inhabitants  of  the  island,  and  the  result  is 


258        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

undoubtedly  shown  In  the  more  hopeful  condition  of 
the  negro  here.  I  am  far  from  believing,  with  that 
handful  of  West  Indians,  with  one  or  two  excep- 
tions all  residents  of  England,  who  loudly  pro- 
claim that  this  honourable  effort  and  most  intelligent 
appreciation  of  racial  characteristics  has  resulted  in 
the  solution  of  the  black  problem.  Indeed,  here,  as 
everywhere,  incidents  daily  occurred  which,  to  my  in- 
terpretation at  least,  pointed  to  the  development  of  the 
irrepressible  conflict.  I  enjoyed  a  most  interesting 
conversation  on  this  subject  with  Sir  Sydney  Olivier, 
the  radical  Governor  of  the  island.  The  sentiments 
which  he  expressed  were,  however,  so  revolutionary 
that  I  have  preferred  only  to  reproduce  them  as  they 
appear  in  a  recent  pamphlet  from  his  pen.* 

The  solicitude  of  the  mother  country  for  the  well- 
being  of  Jamaica  and  the  other  productive  islands  did 
not,  however,  go  to  the  extent  of  putting  a  tax  on  the 
British  breakfast-table,  and  the  tragedy  of  Jamaica, 
the  fading  of  Its  glory,  the  ruin  of  Its  plantations. 
Is  but  an  Incident  of  the  Free-Trade  crusade.  To-day 
British  statesmen  are  again  studying  the  West  Indian 
problem;  many  plans  are  proposed  by  which  it  is 
hoped  prosperity  may  be  brought  back,  but  the  ques- 
tion Is  a  thorny  one.  To-day  Jamaica,  and,  in  a  less 
degree,  Dominica  and  Montserrat,  are  feeling  the  en- 
livening touch  of  a  new  era  and  an  unsuspected  pros- 
perity. Thirty  years  ago  In  these  Islands  fruit  was 
unsalable,  and  the  trees  were  often  cut  down  when 
bearing  and  In  their  prime,  for  fuel.  To-day  the  same 
orchards  and  groves  are  patrolled  day  and  night,  and 
enjoy  all  the  painstaking  protection  and  solicitude  that 

*See  Appendix  G,  Note  III,  page  448. 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        259 

are  bestowed  upon  valuable  and  income-paying  pos- 
sessions. The  very  scattered  nature  of  the  new-born 
prosperity  adds  a  new  difficulty  to  the  already  thorny 
West  Indian  problem.  P'or  many  years  past  the  voice 
of  the  West  Indian  Press  has  been  raised  in  and  out 
of  season  in  cries  for  new  markets,  or  at  least  for  the 
old.  This  Press  has  generally  shown  its  loyalty  to  the 
King  and  unwritten  constitution,  by  depicting,  in  lurid, 
sensational  colours,  how  unfortunate  we  all  are  who 
live  in  the  United  States  under  a  written  constitution 
and  laws  of  our  own  making.  This  Press  is  par- 
ticularly strong  and  particularly  lurid  in  its 
descriptions  of  lynchings,  and  the  West  Indian 
negro  is  given  to  understand  that  these  burn- 
ing-parties take  place  almost  every  day  in  almost 
all  the  large  cities,  and  for  offences  which,  in  His 
Majesty's  dominions,  would  meet  with  no  other  pun- 
ishment than  a  possible  fine  of  five  shillings.  But 
when  the  question  of  business  is  under  discussion,  the 
language  of  loyalty  and  respectful  suggestion  vanishes, 
and  the  West  Indian  Press  indulges  in  pretty  matter- 
of-fact  talk.  Now  and  then  the  drift  of  the  argu- 
ment borders  on  treason,  and  must  shock  the  suscepti- 
bilities of  the  Colonial  Office. 

"  If  we  are  left  to  shift  for  ourselves  commercially," 
say  the  West  Indian  editors,  "  we  have  the  right  to 
command  complete  liberty  of  political  action."  This 
evident  discontent,  which,  from  our  point  of  view,  is 
fully  justified,  has  led  to  much  painstaking  study  of  the 
market  possibilities  In  which  West  Indian  products  are 
concerned.  As  yet,  however,  these  studies  and  sci- 
entific surveys  have  not  resulted  in  anything  very  sub- 
stantial.    It  is,  perhaps,  too  early  in  the  day  to  ex- 


26o        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

press  without  reserve  an  opinion  as  to  the  trans- 
oceanic fruit  trade,  which  is  now  being  encouraged. 
Should  it  attain  large  and  prosperous  proportions — 
and  I,  for  one,  believe  that  it  will — the  prosperity  of 
the  fruit-growing  islands  at  least  will  be  assured. 
And  the  trade  within  the  Empire  will  suffice  the 
islanders  for  years  to  come.  Jamaica  has  a  Legis- 
lative Council  consisting  of  the  Governor,  who  has 
only  a  casting  vote,  and  five  ex-ojficio  members, 
"  namely,  the  senior  military  officer,  Colonial  Secretary, 
Attorney-General,  Director  of  Public  Works,  and  Col- 
lector-General, and  such  other  persons,  not  exceeding 
ten  in  number,  as  His  Majesty  the  King  may  from 
time  to  time  appoint,"  and  fourteen  members  who  are 
elected  by  the  people.  The  educational  and  property 
qualifications  for  the  voters  are  said  to  be  higher  than 
in  Barbados,  and  this  is  a  grievance  noisily  expressed 
by  the  black  population.  During  my  visit  to  the  island 
a  bye-election  took  place  amid  great  excitement,  in  the 
inland  and  mountainous  district  of  Westmoreland. 
The  voters  were  squarely  divided  on  the  colour  ques- 
tion, and  it  was  thought  that  the  coloured  legislator 
could  hardly  fail  to  win.  However,  on  election  day 
the  mountain  streams  were  flooded,  and  the  coloured 
voters,  fearful  of  wetting  their  feet,  waited  for  the 
waters  to  subside,  while  the  white  men  waded  through, 
and,  though  feverish  and  rheum.atic,  the  next  day  had 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  they  had  elected  their  can- 
didate. But  the  majority  of  black  voters  in  the  island 
is  so  overwhelming,  that  even  the  most  persistent  rains 
will  fail  to  prevent  them  securing  proportionate  repre- 
sentation in  the  Legislative  Council  at  an  early  day. 
Trinidad,  though  within  ten  degrees  of  the  equato- 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        261 

rial  line,  enjoys  a  remarkably  healthy  and  agreeable 
climate.  The  downpours  of  the  rainy  season  are  tre- 
mendous, and  certainly  more  copious  than  anything  I 
have  experienced  in  the  Philippines  and  the  other  In- 
dies, East  or  West.  Trinidad  claims  to  be  quite  out- 
side of  the  hurricane  zone,  and  is  supported  in  this 
claim  by  all  the  oldest  inhabitants.  Nowhere  is  the 
wonderful  diversity  of  these  islands  shown  as  to  their 
products  more  than  in  Trinidad.  Its  fauna  and  flora 
are  continental,  which  is  natural  enough,  because  the 
island  is  carved  off  the  coast  of  the  South  American 
Continent,  but  its  products  do  not  coincide  with  those 
of  the  mainland,  only  a  few  miles  away  across  the 
straits. 

"  We  have,"  says  a  local  historian  of  the  island, 
"  lakes  of  pitch,  streams  of  tar,  oysters  growing  on 
trees,  an  animal  resembling  a  fish  that  produces  Its 
young  alive,  crabs  that  climb  and  feed  in  fruit  trees, 
another  fish  that  entertains  us  with  a  concert,  and, 
lastly,  one  kind  of  fish  that  is  clad  in  a  complete  suit 
of  armour."  Every  man  who  ever  went  to  Trinidad 
has  proceeded  to  demolish  this  tropical  Herodotus.  I 
admit  I  have  failed.  Two  of  these  astonishing  state- 
ments which  I  have  investigated  are  true  absolutely, 
and  I  believe  all  the  others  are. 

Port-of-Spain,  the  capital,  and  only  city  of  any  im- 
portance in  this,  "  the  land  of  the  humming  bird,"  as 
the  inhabitants  love  to  call  their  home,  occupies  a  very 
beautiful  position  near  the  northwestern  extremity  of 
the  island.  Unlike  Kingston,  it  is  embowered  in 
flowers  and  flowering  trees,  and  it  is  certainly  the  most 
attractive  city  in  the  English  West  Indies.  Some  years 
ago   it  profited  by  a   great   conflagration,   which,   al- 


262        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

though  rendering  homeless  for  a  time  five  thousand 
people,  did  away  with  all  the  palm-thatched  structures 
and  the  narrow  crooked  streets  that  dated  from  the 
earlier  days.  Broad  avenues  were  laid  out,  and  parks 
and  squares  surveyed  and  plotted,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  Port-of-Spain  should  not  become  the  most 
beautiful  tropical  city  of  the  world.  As  yet,  however, 
it  is  not,  and  it  is  too  early  to  make  predictions,  as  the 
local  magnates  do,  with  the  cocksureness  which  takes 
an  American  back  in  memory  a  generation  or  two,  to 
the  boomers  of  some  of  the  mushroom  cities  of  our 
own  West.  The  great  future  of  Trinidad  and  Port- 
of-Spain  is  not  entirely  dependent  upon  its  own  re- 
sources. The  island  and  the  port  are  for  weal  or  for 
woe  involved  in  the  future  of  Venezuela.  This  port 
is  the  natural  distributing-point  for  all  the  Venezuelan 
towns,  and  for  the  Orinoco  trade.  If  Venezuela  en- 
joys good  government,  and  is  developed  commercially 
along  modern  lines,  Port-of-Spain  will  become  a  great 
emporium  and  centre  of  distribution. 

The  mineral  resources,  as  we  commonly  understand 
them,  are  very  slender,  but  the  Pitch  Lake  is  mined 
every  year  for  about  one  million  dollars'  worth  of 
asphalt.  This  brings  in  tw^o  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year  to  the  government,  a  very  snug  windfall,  which 
all  the  other  islands  very  naturally  envy  Trinidad. 
The  rich  soil,  its  moist,  hot  climate,  make  of  the  island 
a  perfect  paradise  for  tropical  agriculture.  The 
planters  stood  by  sugar,  like  all  their  kind,  for  many 
years,  but  at  last  they  have  turned  to  cocoa,  the  output 
of  which  has  increased  over  one  hundred  per  cent,  in 
the  last  eight  years.  This  crop  is  inexpensive  in  its 
cultivation,  and  a  cocoa  plantation  permits  of  residence 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        263 

in  the  healthy  hill  countries,  which  are  so  picturesque 
and  agreeable  to  the  planter  from  northern  latitudes. 

Trinidad  still  retains  a  large  proportion  of  its 
primeval  forests,  and  the  government  has  been  so 
wise  as  to  conserve  such  large  areas  of  first-growth 
timber  as  are  thought  necessary  for  the  regulation  of 
the  water  supply,  and  to  temper  the  climate  with  that 
veil  of  moisture  without  which  life  here  would  be  im- 
possible, at  least  to  the  European.  In  these  forests 
cedars  grow  to  the  height  of  eighty  feet,  and  there  are 
still  immense  quantities  of  mahogany  and  other  rare, 
hard  wood,  many  of  which  can  be  seen  most  com- 
fortably by  the  traveller  growing  in  the  Botanical 
Garden. 

Of  the  lesser  islands,  perhaps,  the  one  that  interested 
me  the  most  lies  oft  the  coast  of  Martinique,  and  is 
to-day  wholly  uninhabited.  We  came  upon  Diamond 
Rock  one  beautiful,  moonlight  night,  some  five  or  six 
hours  out  from  Fort  de  France.  It  is  practically 
nothing  more  or  less  than  a  shaft  of  coral  rock  rising 
some  two  hundred  feet  out  of  the  sea  and,  in  certain 
lights,  it  looks  not  at  all  unlike  an  old  square-rigger 
left  standing  on  end  by  some  feat  of  legerdemain  un- 
known to  modern  navigation;  but  this  is  not  the  reason 
why  all  good  English  sailors  hail  this  rock  as  His 
Majesty's  sloop-of-war.  Diamond  Rock.  Here,  for 
reasons  which  are  not  very  apparent,  in  these  days  of 
steamers,  an  English  admiral  during  the  eighteenth 
century  left  a  man-of-war's  crew  under  Captain 
Maurice,  with  orders  not  to  let  a  Frenchman  slip  by 
into  the  channel,  which  gave  access  to  the  Martinico 
harbours.  The  English  jackies  dragged  their  guns 
up  the  side  of  the  rocks,  dug  caves  and  bomb-proofs, 


264        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  made  themselves  very  much  at  home.  Not  until 
then  were  the  French  most  disagreeably  apprised  of 
the  new  neighbours  that  had  installed  themselves  in 
their  vicinity.  Ship  after  ship,  sailing  for  Martinico, 
was  disabled  or  driven  back,  and,  in  consequence,  the 
naval  plans  of  the  French  admiral  commanding  in  the 
Western  Ocean  were  most  disastrously  affected. 
Finally,  the  whole  French  fleet  was  concentrated  upon 
this  shaft  of  rock.  Attempt  after  attempt  was  made 
to  "  board,"  but  every  assault  failed  until  provisions 
and  water  ran  out,  when  the  surviving  crew  of  this 
strange  man-of-war  accepted  the  honourable  conditions 
offered,  and  surrendered. 

Nevis,  the  island  of  the  snows,  swims  into  view, 
with  the  summit  of  its  single  mountain  capped  with  the 
white  snowy  cloud  that  gave  it  its  name.  It  is  won- 
derfully symmetrical,  from  its  sea-washed  base  to  its 
cloud-capped  peak,  which  rises  to  an  altitude  of  three 
thousand  five  hundred  feet.  Nevis  and  Dominica  are, 
to  my  mind,  the  most  beautiful  islands  of  these  seas. 
Perhaps  they  only  seem  so  because  they  are  so  small 
that  you  can  carry  the  picture  and  the  memory  of  them 
in  your  head.  Flere  in  Nevis  a  hundred  years  ago  a 
very  high  phase  of  civilisation  was  attained.  Here 
Alexander  Hamilton  was  born,  and  here  Horatio  Nel- 
son married  the  wife  who  was  so  faithful  to  his  un- 
faithfulness. The  plantations  are  deserted,  the 
estates  ruined;  on  every  side  ignorance  and  apathy  and 
neglected  opportunity  meet  the  eye.  The  island  is  said 
to  be  absolutely  healthful,  but,  unfortunately,  its 
products  have  been  for  many  years  a  drug  on  the 
market,  and  the  people  of  Nevis  are  very  poor,  and, 
what  is  worse,  greatly  discouraged.     On  a  hill  above 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        265 

the  little  capital,  Charlestown,  you  are  shown  the  ruins 
which  may  be  the  ruins  of  the  house  where  Hamilton 
was  born,  but  in  quaint  Old  Fig  Tree  Church,  about 
two  miles  away,  you  can  see  the  undoubtedly  authentic 
record  of  Nelson's  marriage,  which  reads  "  1787, 
March  nth.  Horatio  Nelson,  Esq.,  Captain  of  H. 
M.  S.  Boreas,  to  Frances  Herbert  Nisbet." 

Saint  Lucia  is  the  most  northerly  of  the  Windward 
Islands,  and  is  governed  from  Grenada.  The  island 
has  a  very  remarkable  flora  and  fauna  upon  which 
naturalists  love  to  dwell.  Lucy's  island  is  remarkable 
for  its  beauty,  but  as  that  is  a  trait  which  nearly  all 
the  islands  in  these  seas  possess,  I  should  say  that,  to 
my  mind,  it  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  peculiarities 
and  idiosyncrasies.  It  is,  indeed,  amazing  how  these 
islands,  so  very  near  together,  exposed  apparently  to 
very  much  the  same  climatic  influences,  should  each  and 
every  one  of  them,  as  it  were,  have  developed  a  per- 
sonality. Here  we  are,  only  a  few  miles  from  Bar- 
bados, and  the  bread-fruit  tree  flourishes  in  great  lux- 
uriance. Over  in  Barbados,  however,  where  the  fruit 
would  be  such  a  boon  to  the  large  population,  so  many 
of  whom  live  always  on  short  rations  and  near  to 
starvation,  the  bread-fruit  is  very  rare,  and  never 
makes  a  really  healthy  growth.  One  would  naturally 
suppose  that  the  bread-fruit  trees  in  Barbados  had  been 
destroyed  by  shortsighted  consumers,  but  I  am  assured 
that  this  is  not  the  case,  that  it  never  grew  there 
naturally,  and  that  the  specimens,  few  and  far  between, 
that  one  sees,  have  been  of  recent  years  transplanted, 
with  little  or  no  success. 

This  island  has  the  disadvantage  of  a  large  serpent 
population.     Here,  it  is  said,  but  I  was  so  fortunate 


266        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

as  not  to  meet  even  a  little  one,  the  terrible  fer-de- 
lance  sometimes  reaches  a  length  of  seven  feet. 
There  is,  I  believe,  no  cure  for  its  bite,  and  its  pres- 
ence here  has  certainly  had  a  deterrent  effect  upon  the 
coming  of  both  white  and  black  settlers  to  the  island. 
There  is  another  snake  much  more  formidable  in  ap- 
pearance, but,  fortunately,  not  so  in  fact,  that  one 
meets  everywhere.  It  is  a  constrictor  about  eleven 
feet  in  length  when  full-grown,  and  is  called  the 
"  chicken-head."  It  is  quite  black,  with  yellow  mark- 
ings, and  is,  I  think,  a  close  cousin  of  our  black  snake 
at  home.  The  capital  and  chief  port  of  the  island  is 
Castries,  on  the  northwest  coast  of  the  island,  and  at 
the  head  of  the  deep,  spacious  bay  of  the  same  name. 
The  harbour  is  only  a  third  of  a  mile  across  at  its 
entrance,  but  it  runs  inland  for  a  mile  and  a  half, 
with  an  average  width  of  three-quarters  of  a  mile,  and 
is  entirely  surrounded  and  protected  by  hills.  This 
ideally  situated  port,  whether  for  military  or  com- 
mercial purposes,  is,  or  perhaps  I  should  say  was, 
the  chief  fortress  and  bulwark  of  British  naval  power 
in  the  West  Indies.  All  the  headlands  north  of  the 
harbour  entrance  are  fortified  in  the  unobtrusive  mod- 
ern way,  and  gun-pits  abound.  However,  they  are 
more  dangerous  to  the  unwary  pedestrians  than  to 
hostile  shipping,  as  most  of  the  guns  have  been  re- 
moved. 

Castries  is  always  pointed  out  as  an  Illustration  and, 
indeed,  as  a  revelation  of  the  new  British  policy  In  the 
West  Indies.  At  the  time  of  the  Venezuela  squabble 
between  England  and  the  United  States,  in  1895, 
Castries  was  the  scene  of  great  military  activity;  some 
barracks  were  built,  and  others  were  planned,  capable 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        267 

of  housing  thirty  thousand  men  at  least;  everything 
seemed  to  indicate  that  the  port  was  destined  to  de- 
velop into  a  great  military  centre;  then  came  the  Salis- 
bury-Olney  correspondence,  and  its  peaceful  outcome. 
Those  who  maintain  that  to-day  England  has  placed 
her  American  possessions  under  the  protection  of  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  point  to  the  deserted  and  dis- 
mantled appearance  of  this  fortress  as  proof  of  the 
correctness  of  their  position.* 

The  Dutch  possessions  in  the  West  Indies  have 
dwindled  to  Curagao,  Bonaire,  and  Ouruba,  all  lying 
near  the  South  American  coast.  We  have  already 
mentioned  Saba  and  Statia,  which  are  practically  com- 
prised in  the  Virgin  group.  The  area  of  all  the  Dutch 
possessions  does  not  exceed  five  hundred  square  miles, 
or  the  population  fifty  thousand.  The  island  of 
Curagao  is  at  once  the  largest,  two  hundred  and  ten 
square  miles  in  area,  as  well  as  strategically  the  most 
valuable.  The  seat  of  the  Dutch  administration 
is  in  Curagao,  where  the  Governor  resides,  and  where 
he  is  kept  in  countenance  by  an  occasional  visit  from  a 
Dutch  man-of-war.  Each  of  the  outlying  dependencies 
is  ruled  by  an  administrator  appointed  by  the  Queen, 
and  sent  out  from  Holland.  These  islands  were  con- 
quered and  settled  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company, 
that  had  so  much  to  do  with  the  early  history  of  Man- 
hattan Island.  The  English  captured  Curagao  in 
1807,  but  in  1 8 15,  in  the  general  liquidation  after  the 
Napoleonic  wars,  it  was  ceded  back  to  Holland.  Wil- 
lemstad,  the  capital,  is  a  smugglers'  paradise,  and  a 
rendezvous    of    revolutionists    and    political    stormy 

*  Statistics  concerning  the  trade  and  the  population  of  the  Dutch 
islands  are  given  in  Appendix  H,  page  456. 


268        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

petrels  from  all  over  the  West  Indian  and  South 
American  world.  Duties  are  next  to  nothing,  the 
local  government  good  and  efficient,  and  the  place 
should  have  become,  as  a  distributing-point,  the  Hong- 
kong of  the  West.  It  has  not  done  so,  however,  and 
probably  never  will,  the  Venezuelans  and  the  Colom- 
bians being  what  they  are  commercially.  The  Dutch, 
however,  cling  to  the  place  with  a  very  wise  apprecia- 
tion of  what  its  value  would  be  now  to  a  world  power, 
and  of  how  greatly  this  value  will  be  enhanced  when 
the  Panama  Canal,  only  distant  forty  hours'  easy 
steaming,  is  completed.  During  the  blockade  of  the 
Venezuelan  ports  by  Germany,  England,  and  Italy  in 
1903,  the  Germans  made  themselves  very  much  at 
home  in  Curasao.  They  tested  its  advantages  as  a 
naval  station  by  actual  experience,  and  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  they  would  like  to  secure  permanent  pos- 
session. This,  and  the  ownership  of  Saint  Thomas, 
are  some  of  the  minor  questions  that  will  be  decided 
on  that  day  of  struggle  to  which  the  German  naval 
officers  drink  every  night  with  their  toast:  "  Am  tag  " 
("  on  or  to  the  day"). 

The  harbour  of  Curagao,  this  Naboth's  vineyard  of 
the  West  Indian  powers,  is  a  landlocked  lagoon  that 
runs  into  three  points.  In  it  and  upon  an  artificial 
island  behind  moat  and  portcullis  the  worthy  Governor 
lives.  His  mise-en-scene  smacks  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  but  he  himself  is  generally  a  very  able  and 
clever  man,  with  modern,  up-to-date  ideas.  The  en- 
trance to  the  harbour  by  the  forts  is  so  narrow  that 
sentinels  can  hail  one  another  across  the  water  with- 
out raising  their  voices.  The  inlet  is  deep  and  straight, 
and  widens  out  into  a  very  capacious  harbour,  but  I 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        269 

imagine,  without  the  expenditure  of  much  money  in 
improvements,  access  to  this  harbour  would  be  danger- 
ous, and  perhaps  impossible,  to  battleships  of  the  first 
class. 

There  is  no  place  quite  like  Curacao  in  the  world, 
and  there  is  no  wonder  that  the  people  of  this  peculiar 
ocean  port  should,  in  the  course  of  many  centuries, 
have  hewn  out  a  language  of  their  own.  Everybody 
who  is  educated,  of  course,  can  speak  English,  and 
the  official  speech  is  Dutch,  but  when  the  islanders  are 
at  home  or  in  the  market-place,  wherever  they  are  at 
ease,  they  speak  papiamento,  which  has  been  described 
as  a  "  pepper-pot  "  of  a  language  composed  of  Dutch, 
English,  Indian,  Spanish,  and,  above  all,  Hebrew 
words  and  roots.  The  commerce  of  the  place  is 
largely  in  the  hands  of  Portuguese  Hebrews,  who  came 
here  several  hundred  years  ago  from  Holland. 

Margarita,  the  pearl  island,  is  the  most  consider- 
able of  the  Venezuelan  islands.  It  lies  off  Cumana, 
the  mainland  port,  and  is  near  enough  to  Trinidad  to 
be  disagreeable  at  times.  It  was  once  the  seat  of 
lucrative  pearl  fisheries,  but  now  the  oyster  beds  are 
only  fished  on  a  small  scale.  Here,  as  everywhere 
else,  the  Venezuelans  have  killed,  or,  at  all  events,  in- 
valided the  goose  that  laid  the  golden  egg.  Mar- 
garita has  an  area  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  square 
miles,  the  climate  of  the  coast  is  pleasant,  and  that  of 
the  interior  very  healthy.  There  are  two  small  moun- 
tain ranges,  one  of  which  in  peaks,  and  even  in  long, 
open  plateau,  reaches  a  height  of  four  thousand  feet. 
I  am  making  this  statement  on  information  which  I 
believe  to  be  reliable,  my  personal  knowledge  of  the 
island  being  limited  to  what  you  can  see  from  a  passing 


270        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

steamer.  During  the  blockade  of  1903,  the  Germans 
landed  here,  and  not  only  the  coast  line,  but  even  the 
interior,  was  most  carefully  and  thoroughly  surveyed 
by  them.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  healthfulness 
and  the  strategic  value  of  this  island.  Margarita  may 
play  a  great  role  in  the  next  West  Indian  war.  To- 
day it  is  most  difficult  of  access,  and  its  population 
dwindling,  those  who  remain  are  poverty-stricken; 
and  those  who  do  work  are  robbed  of  what  little  they 
may  acquire  by  the  Venezuelan  tax  collectors. 

The  winds  and  the  waves  of  the  West  Indies  have 
in  almost  all  my  wanderings  received  me  in  the  kindest 
fashion.  If  you  want  to  know  what  seafaring  life  was 
in  these  waters  in  the  picturesque  days,  you  must  turn 
to  the  stirring  pages  of  "  Tom  Cringle's  Log."  During 
the  Spanish  war  I  lay  three  days  on  board  a  broken- 
down  torpedo  boat  in  the  Bahama  Channel,  during 
which  the  conviction  was  forced  upon  me  that  my 
fighting  element  was  not  the  sea.  Again,  on  a  com- 
mercial vessel,  one  of  those  ancient  death-traps  which 
have  at  last  vanished  from  these  seas,  I  had  an  experi- 
ence which  contributed  to  the  conviction  I  hold  that 
no  man  has  sailed  into  the  heart  or  the  centre  of  a 
West  Indian  hurricane  and  survived  to  tell  the  tale. 
Off  the  Bermudas  we  ran  into  a  good  gale,  and  for 
twenty-four  hours,  battened  down  and  close-hauled,  if 
you  will,  and  with  ports  screwed  tight,  the  ship  down 
below  a  steaming  cauldron,  and  on  deck  pandemonium, 
we  ran  before  it.  For  a  time  the  barometer  was  sta- 
tionary, and  gave  ws  no  indication  of  what  was  coming; 
then  it  sank  lower  and  lower,  swift-moving  tongues  of 
clouds  enveloped  the  ship  on  every  side,  the  gale  be- 
came unsteady,  now  coming  from  one  direction,  now 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        271 

from  another.  To  keep  our  battered  bow  to  the 
swirling,  circling  storm  was  no  easy  matter;  it  shifted 
quicker  than  we  could,  and  though  we  kept  turning  like 
nothing  more  that  I  can  remember  than  a  chicken  with 
its  head  off,  we  were  often  caught  abeam  and  washed 
clean.  We  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  have  a  deck 
cargo  of  mules,  some  forty  or  fifty  there  were,  bound 
for  the  Barbados  and  the  Guiana  mines,  and  over  the 
roar  of  the  hurricane  and  the  creaking  of  the  old 
ship's  timbers  now  and  again  we  heard  the  death  shriek 
of  an  animal  from  old  Missouri  that,  with  his  iron 
stall,  was  picked  up  and  tossed  as  lightly  into  the  sea 
as  though  he  had  been  a  canary  in  its  cage. 

About  the  fifth  hour  after  the  blow  had  developed 
into  a  hurricane,  the  bridge  structure  went,  and  the 
captain  nearly  went  with  it.  However,  he  took 
refuge,  with  his  quartermaster,  in  the  deck-house,  and 
things  looked  better  for  an  hour  or  two;  then  a  great 
wave  went  entirely  over  the  wounded  craft,  the  sky- 
lights were  smashed,  and  the  whole  ship  flooded. 
Though  the  pumps  were  going,  and  though  they 
sucked  well,  and  passengers  and  stewards,  as  well  as 
the  sailors,  worked  at  them  with  a  will  for  dear  life's 
sake,  the  fires  in  the  lower  tier  of  boilers  were  put 
out,  and  it  required  pistols  and  carbines  that  were 
not  loaded  with  blank  to  keep  the  negro  and  Italian 
firemen  and  stokers  at  their  work,  upon  which  we 
still  built  a  slender  edifice  of  hope.  There  was  an- 
other lull,  and  then  we  were  caught  again  by  a  beam 
sea;  the  straining,  creaking  steering-gear,  or,  rather, 
its  connection  with  the  deck-house,  became  disarranged, 
and  for  a  moment  we  lay,  a  masterless  ship,  a  cockle- 
shell at  the  mercy  of  the  seas. 


272        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

The  captain  retreated  to  the  poop-deck,  and  soon, 
by  his  indomitable  will  and  courage,  again  secured 
control.  Six  men  were  lashed  directly  to  the  wheel, 
and  soon  again  she  rode  easier,  facing  the  storm.  The 
shrieks  of  the  mules,  for  their  cries  of  agony  and  fear 
were  neither  neighs  nor  brays,  had  ceased  now,  the 
iron  gates  of  their  stalls  had  been  driven  into  their 
quarters,  and  all  of  them  that  had  not  been  washed 
overboard  were  dead  or  dying.  The  scuppers  ran 
red  with  their  blood,  and  the  sharks  were  visibly  fol- 
lowing a  trail  that  possibly  might  lead  to  us.  An- 
other great  sea,  which  sent  us  on  our  beams'  ends, 
piled  the  dead  mules  up  in  a  pyramid,  which  gave  the 
ship  a  dangerous  list  that  could  not  be  righted  except  in 
one  way.  Ten  of  the  sailors,  armed  with  axes,  were 
ordered  by  the  chief  officer,  who  carried  a  pistol  in  each 
hand,  to  clear  away  the  mule  wreckage.  Another 
towering  wave  surprised  them  at  their  work,  and, 
though  they  had  been  tied  together  with  ropes,  two  of 
the  men  were  swept  overboard,  never  to  return.  The 
rest  retreated,  the  pyramid  of  mule  flesh  remained,  and 
the  sharks  leaped  gaily  about  in  the  scarlet  trail  we  left 
behind.  According  to  the  log,  as  we  examined  it  after- 
wards, the  ship's  agony  lasted  between  forty-eight  and 
fifty  hours. 

As  for  ourselves,  we  had  no  v/ay  and,  perhaps,  no 
inclination  to  mark  the  passage  of  time.  During  these 
hours  it  was  neither  day  nor  night,  it  was  always  dark 
and  lowering;  no  meals  were  served,  and  no  bells  rang 
out  to  tell  us  how  time  was  going;  now  and  again  we 
pitched  down  the  companion-way  and  grabbed  a  bunch 
of  brine-soaked  sardines  or  a  chunk  of  cheese,  or  took 
a  gulp  of  brandy  or  rum  from  the  swinging  bottles 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        273 

in  the  hanging-rack.  At  last  we  outran  the  storm, 
though  for  hours  it  kept  yelping  at  our  crippled  heels. 
Even  as  our  prospects  grew  brighter  there  came  other 
anxieties.  The  ship  was  taking  water,  apparently- 
through  her  seams,  and  flesh  and  blood  and  bone  and 
sinew  could  work  the  pumps  no  longer.  We  had 
twenty  barrels  of  oil  on  deck,  and  these,  strange  to 
relate,  had  remained  fast  to  their  moorings.  One  by 
one  the  captain  broached  the  barrels,  and  the  effect  was 
almost  marvellous.  For  hours  afterwards  the  waves 
were  large,  perhaps  larger  than  before,  but  the  crest 
of  each  and  every  one  of  them  seemed  glassed  over  by 
the  restraining  fluid.  Little  or  no  water  came  on 
deck,  and  at  last  the  water  in  the  hold  was  gotten  under 
control.  Twelve  hours  later  we  limped  into  Saint 
Thomas,  and  two  of  our  lady  passengers  had  the 
courage  and  the  ingratitude  to  go  ashore  and  libel  the 
ship  for  the  undoubted  damage  their  wardrobes  had  re- 
ceived in  the  course  of  our  unusual  experience.   .   .   . 

It  is  impossible,  in  equal  measure  I  think,  to  enter 
fully  in  a  volume  of  this  character  into  the  wonderfully 
romantic  history  of  the  Antilles  and  the  Caribbee 
islands,  or  yet  to  quite  ignore  it.  So  I  have  decided 
to  give  the  story  of  Tobago  somewhat  in  detail,  in  the 
hope  that  all  readers  may  receive  a  suggestion  of  the 
wealth  of  romance  that  here  lies  entombed  in  the 
manuscript  folios  of  forgotten  chronicles  awaiting  the 
life-giving  touch  of  an  historian  worthy  of  the  great 
task. 

Tobago  should  be  Tobaco,  as  it  was  called  after  the 
Carib  pipe,  which,  in  outline,  it  was  supposed  by  Co- 
lumbus, who  landed  here  in  1498,  greatly  to  resemble. 
Sir  Olive  Leigh,  the  discoverer  of  Barbados,  that  is. 


274        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

as  far  as  the  English  are  concerned,  the  Portuguese 
having  probably  been  on  the  scene  first,  made  a  settle- 
ment here  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  or  a 
generation  before  Jamestown,  in  Virginia,  was 
founded.  The  Caribs  of  the  neighbouring  islands  and 
the  mainland  harassed  this  pioneer  colony  unceasingly, 
and  on  several  occasions,  after  meeting  with  great 
losses,  the  English  abandoned  the  island.  Tobago 
was  included  in  a  grant  made  in  1628  by  Charles  I  to 
the  Earl  of  Montgomery,  but  the  colonists  whom  he 
sent  out  were  nearly  all  killed  by  the  Caribs,  who 
were  apparently  at  this  time  acting  in  union  with  the 
Spaniards.  Those  who  survived  their  attacks  at  last 
abandoned  Tobago,  where,  up  to  the  present,  never 
once  had  the  pipe  of  peace  been  smoked,  and  made 
good  their  escape  northward  to  the  island  of  New 
Providence. 

Four  years  later  two  hundred  Zeelanders  from 
Flushing,  seeking  a  new  home,  cast  their  anchor  here. 
They  built  on  a  new  site,  and  apparently  were  quite 
ignorant  of  the  island's  bloody  history.  Within  a 
year,  however,  they  were  set  upon  by  the  Indians,  this 
time  under  the  open  leadership  of  the  Spaniards,  and 
driven  away.  For  a  time  solitude  resumed  its  sway, 
and  the  island  was  rarely  visited.  Now  and  again 
a  curious  mariner  or  pirate — the  line  was  hard  to  draw 
in  those  days — came  this  way,  viewed  the  blood-stained 
ruins  of  the  various  settlements,  and  it  is  supposed  that 
one  of  these  gave  to  the  great  Defoe  the  details  and 
the  topography  of  the  island,  which  he  worked  out 
with  mathematical  accuracy  in  the  immortal  pages  of 
"  Robinson  Crusoe." 

In  1 64 1  James,  Duke  of  Courland,  a  small  state  on 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        575 

the  Baltic,  sent  out  two  shiploads  of  settlers,  who  were 
apparently  Russians  and  Lithuanians.  They  estab- 
lished themselves  on  the  north  coast,  and  for  a  time 
the  colony  flourished.  Later  a  settlement  was  made 
on  the  south  coast  by  a  company  of  Scotch  merchants, 
and  then  what  is  known  in  these  seas  as  the  "  Fishi- 
lingo  "  war  began — so  known  in  all  probability  because 
some  of  the  Dutch  came  from  Flushing.  In  a  few 
years  the  Courlanders  or  Russians  were  killed  or 
driven  away,  and  the  victorious  Scotch  remained  in  un- 
disputed possession  until  1662.  The  Dutch  company 
in  this  year  conveyed  all  the  right  they  possessed  in 
the  territory  to  Cornelius  Lampsius,  who  placed  the 
island  under  the  protection  of  France,  and  was  created 
Baron  of  Tobago  in  the  French  peerage.  About  this 
time  the  Dukes  of  Courland  made  another  settlement 
on  the  island,  but  they  were  somewhat  unceremoni- 
ously ejected  by  Louis  XIV,  whose  descendant,  Louis 
XVIII,  in  later  years,  in  the  days  of  his  exile,  found 
refuge  and  protection  in  Mitau,  the  capital  of  the  Cour- 
landers. 

While  the  Dutch,  the  Baltic  sailors,  and  the  French 
were  engaged  in  the  triangular  war  which  followed, 
some  English  privateers  from  Jamaica  came  along 
and,  finding  the  island  desirable,  took  forcible  pos- 
session, turning  out  "  the  foreigners,"  as  they  re- 
ported to  the  Governor  of  Port  Royal.  The  pri- 
vateersmen  soon  grew  weary  of  their  beautiful  but 
somewhat  side-tracked  island,  and,  after  a  few  months, 
sailed  away  again,  seeking  adventures.  The  garrison 
they  left  behind  was  shortly  afterwards  overpowered 
by  a  French  force  from  Grenada.  Those  of  the  pri- 
vateers who  were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  fall  in  battle, 


276        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

are  said  to  have  been  compelled  to  walk  the  plank  by 
the  pious  Frenchmen,  who  only  a  few  weeks  before 
had  massacred  the  last  of  the  Caribs  remaining  under 
arms. 

The  French  soon  abandoned  the  island,  and  the 
Dutch  came  back.  In  1672  they  were  again  driven 
out  by  a  force  from  Barbados  under  Sir  Tobias 
Bridges.  The  Dutch  returned  in  great  force,  but  In 
1677  they  were  defeated  and  driven  out  by  the  French 
fleet,  under  Count  D'Estrees. 

The  French  now  decided  to  abandon  an  island 
which  had  caused  so  much  bloodshed  and  the  wasting 
of  treasure,  and  Louis  XIV  very  magnanimously 
handed  the  place  back  to  the  Courlanders. 

The  Baltic  Duke,  however,  was  not  to  be  inveigled 
into  any  more  West  Indian  adventures,  and,  in  1682, 
he  transferred  his  title  to  the  place  to  a  company  of 
London  merchants.  In  their  hands,  apparently,  the 
island  did  not  prove  the  bonanza  it  was  thought  to  be, 
and  when,  about  1690,  the  island,  by  an  agreement 
between  the  five  great  powers  concerned,  was  declared 
neutral,  "  to  be  visited  only  by  fleets  for  wood  and 
water,"  the  merchant  adventurers  of  London  appar- 
ently made  no  protest. 

About  1750  the  French  took  possession,  and 
founded  a  colony.  This  the  English  disturbed  in 
1762,  and,  by  the  treaty  of  1763,  the  island,  after 
many  vicissitudes,  only  a  few  of  which  are  outlined 
here,  passed  again  into  the  possession  of  the  English. 
From  that  day  down  to  the  present  Tobago  has  been 
constantly  inhabited  by  Europeans,  but  the  wars  did 
not  end.  The  Island  was  again  invaded  by  the  French 
In  178 1,  but  the  English  colonists  more  than  held  their 


THE  ORPHANS  OF  THE  CONQUEST        277 

own,  and  the  French  invaders  had  to  betake  them- 
selves to  the  woods.  For  ten  years  the  tenure  of  the 
English  was  undisturbed,  but  in  1802  the  island  again 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  and,  as  a  local  his- 
torian has  it,  "  the  island  cast  its  vote  for  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  when  he  was  elected  First  Consul." 

There  is  another  local  legend  which  is  of  particular 
interest  to  Americans.  According  to  it,  in  1793  John 
Paul  Jones  visited  the  island,  and  stayed  there  many 
months.  He  is  supposed  to  have  cherished  a  scheme 
to  take  possession  of  the  island,  and  to  carve  out  for 
himself  a  Carib  kingdom.  It  is  certain  that  John 
Paul  was  not  here  in  1793,  and  the  rest  of  the  story 
lacks  the  corroboration  of  undisputed  documents. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Tobago  is  the  island 
Defoe  had  in  mind  when  he  wrote  his  immortal  work, 
and  the  painstaking  researches  of  Mr.  Ober  in  "  Cru- 
soe's Island "  show  with  what  wonderful  accuracy 
the  great  romancer  outlined  the  scene  of  his  greatest 
work.  He  may  have  profited  by  the  adventures  of 
Alexander  Selkirk  on  the  Pacific  island  of  Juan  Fer- 
nandez, but  Crusoe  and  his  man  Friday,  who  was  a 
Carib,  only  lived  and  suffered  and  played  their  manly 
roles  upon  the  shores  of  Tobago.  The  ocean  cur- 
rents flow  past  the  island  to-day  just  as  Crusoe  found 
them.  Just  as  Defoe  took  them  down  from  a  loqua- 
cious but  exceedingly  accurate  mariner  over  a  quart  of 
sack.  The  cave  is  there,  and  the  goats,  and  if  you 
show  a  desire  to  see  them,  and  a  sixpence,  the  natives 
will  show  you  the  footprints  on  the  sand  and  the 
grisly  remains  of  the  Carib  war-feasts. 

For  four  hundred  years  Tobago  has  been 
"  boomed "    by    colonizers.     More    land    companies 


278        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

have  been  formed  to  exploit  this  httle  Eden  than  any 
corner  of  the  globe.  In  1683  famous  John  Poynts, 
who  was,  perhaps,  not  a  wholly  disinterested  ob- 
server, wrote  as  follows  concerning  the  famous  and 
fertile  island  of  Tobago: 

"  And  I  am  persuaded  that  there  is  no  island  in 
America  that  can  aiford  us  more  ample  subject  to  con- 
template the  bounty  and  the  goodness  of  our  great 
Creator  in  than  this  Tobago;  and  this  I  speak  not  by 
hearsay  or  as  one  who  has  always  lived  at  home,  but 
as  one  that  has  had  experience  of  the  world  and  been 
in  the  greatest  part  of  the  Caribbee  islands,  and  in  al- 
most all  His  Majestie's  foreign  plantations,  and  having 
viewed  them  all,  have  chosen  this  island  of  Tobago  to 
take  up  my  quietus  est  in." 

What  this  ancient  mariner  wrote  was  true  then,  and 
is  true  to-day.  In  a  similar  strain,  but  in  more  mod- 
ern words,  the  British  Imperial  Department  of  Agri- 
culture calls  to  the  attention  of  prospective  settlers  the 
undoubted  advantages  of  this  island,  which  is  healthy, 
enjoys  a  pleasant  climate,  and  is  well  outside  the  hur- 
ricane zone.  Still,  settlers  do  not  come  in  great  num- 
bers, and  many,  very  many,  go  away,  not  to  return. 
The  negroes,  who  form  nine-tenths  of  the  population, 
about  twenty  thousand  souls,  believe  that,  as  far  as  the 
white  men  are  concerned,  the  island  is  haunted,  that 
the  ghosts  of  the  treasure-hunters  who  died  in  the  dis- 
graceful wars  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies return  to  haunt  the  present  occupants  of  their 
blood-soaked  plantations.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  a 
fact  that  the  settlers  soon  go  away  to  Trinidad  and 
elsewhere.  Perhaps  a  sufficing  explanation  is  that 
the  present  generation  cannot  stand  the  trial  of 
solitude,  as  did  the  stalwart  Crusoe. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
The  French  Islands 

All  that  remains  of  the  French  West  Indian  Em- 
pire of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  that 
Rodney  and  his  fleet  overthrew  are  the  magnificent 
islands  of  Guadeloupe  and  Martinique,  and  the  little 
islets  that  belong  to  the  same  group — Deseada,  so 
called  because  it  swam  into  view  on  Columbus's  sec- 
ond voyage  when  the  sailors  were  hungry  and  thirsty 
for  the  sight  of  land,  and  Marie  Galante,  not  so  called 
after  any  of  its  very  charming  inhabitants,  but  in 
memory  of  a  Spanish  man-of-war  that  here  went 
ashore.  I  had  almost  forgotten  the  Saints,  following 
in  this  the  example  of  the  French  administration,  which 
lets  the  people  of  the  Saints  go  their  own  gait,  which 
is  said  to  be  that  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea. 

In  all,  the  French  islands  *  have  a  superficial  area  of 
about  six  hundred  and  fifty  square  miles,  and  a  pop- 
ulation of  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thou- 
sand, almost  exclusively  black.  These  Islands  are  at 
present  passing  through  a  severe  economic  crisis  and  a 
political  revolution,  which,  It  is  thought  by  many, 
neither  their  commerce  nor  their  civilisation,  for  that 
matter,  is  likely  to  survive.  With  their  natural 
markets  closed  by  the  heavy  import  duties  which  we 
impose,  the  French  islanders  persist  in  raising  sugar, 

♦Statistics  dealing  with  the  commercial,  financial,  and  political 
situation  in  these  islands  are  given  in  Appendix  I,  page  457. 

279 


28o        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  their  rivals  can  produce  more  cheaply,  both  in 
the  West  Indies  and  in  Europe.  In  consequence,  the 
trade  of  the  islands  has  fallen  off  nearly  one-half  since 
1878. 

Guadeloupe  really  consists  of  two  islands,  about 
equal  in  size,  united  by  a  narrow  isthmus,  which  is 
traversed  by  a  marine  channel  called  the  Salt  River, 
about  three  hundred  feet  wide,  and  accessible  to  ves- 
sels of  light  draught.  The  eastern  island,  where 
stands  Pointe-a-Pitre,  the  capital,  at  the  southern  en- 
trance of  the  channel,  bears  the  name  of  Grande  Terre 
(high  land),  although  in  reality  it  is  smaller  and 
lower  than  Basse  Terre  (low  land),  as  the  western 
island  is  called.  Basse  Terre  is  entirely  volcanic,  and 
its  lofty  wooded  ridges  culminate  in  the  famous  vol- 
cano of  La  Soufriere. 

Guadeloupe  has  a  history  full  of  cruel  episodes  and 
ferocious  figures.  When  the  island  fell  to  the  English 
in  1794,  the  slaves  were  manumitted,  and  since  then, 
if  not  before,  the  colour  question  has  been  the  keynote 
of  the  island's  life.  When,  in  1802,  the  island,  to- 
gether with  Martinique,  was  restored  to  France  in  ex- 
change for  Saint  Lucia,  an  attempt  to  return  the  so 
recently  freed  men  to  slavery  led  to  dire  results.  Hun- 
dreds of  former  slaves  committed  suicide,  and  four 
hundred  blew  themselves  up  in  a  fortress  rather  than 
return  to  their  task-masters.  It  is  a  little-known  fact 
of  the  island's  history,  but  nevertheless  true,  that  at 
this  time  thousands  of  the  islanders  who  rebelled 
against  a  return  to  their  former  state  were  trans- 
ported to  Europe,  drafted  into  French  regiments,  and 
for  the  most  part  perished  in  the  Napoleonic  wars. 
The  local  historians  have  it,  I  believe  on  good  author- 


THE  FRENCH  ISLANDS  281 

ity,  that  three  thousand  Guadelouplans  died  on  the  re- 
treat from  Moscow  alone. 

Despite  the  introduction  of  coolie  labour  from  the 
East  Indies,  following  the  example  set  by  the  British 
Isles,  the  trade  of  the  French  Caribbees  continues  to 
fall,  and  the  efforts  that  are  now  being  made  to  induce 
the  planters  to  vary  their  crops  are  not  notably  suc- 
cessful. As  a  matter  of  fact,  practically  all  the  planta- 
tions in  these  islands  are  owned  by  the  banks,  who  have 
advanced  large  sums  of  money  upon  property  which 
is  steadily  depreciating  in  value.  Sugar  is  a  crop  that 
cannot  be  made  way  with  entirely  by  rural  thieves,  but, 
in  view  of  the  lawless  conditions  prevailing,  none  of 
the  banks  have  as  yet  shown  willingness  to  advance 
money  for  the  planting  of  small  fruits.  Doubtless 
owing  to  the  fact  that  the  population  is  not  so  dense 
as  in  some  of  the  British  islands,  the  poverty  that  one 
meets  with  is  not  so  great  or,  at  all  events,  it  is  carried 
off  with  a  gaiety  of  heart  and  an  insouciance  which  are 
wholly  Gallic.  The  very  apparent  admixture  of 
French  blood  among  the  people  of  colour  makes  these 
islanders  more  attractive  to  my  mind  than  are  the 
Spanish  or  the  English  half-breeds.  They  may  not 
be  such  worthy  people  as  are  the  English  islanders. 
Statistics  would  go  to  show  most  decidedly  that  they 
are  not,  but  they  are  gay  and  bright,  courteous  to  the 
stranger  at  least,  and  you  will  find  association  with 
them  less  depressing  and  paralysing  to  the  mental  facul- 
ties than  with  the  Barbadian  and  Jamaican  negro,  good, 
worthy  people  though  the  latter  be  for  the  most  part. 

With  that  striving  after  uniformity  which  is  the  most 
striking  characteristic  of  their  modern  political  life  in 
France,  the  West  Indian  islands  are  governed,  at  least 


2«2 


THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 


this  is  the  theory,  as  though  the  wide  ocean  did  not  in- 
tervene, and  the  islands  were  so  many  departments 
of  Continental  France.  It  is  true  that  the  nominal 
head  of  affairs  is  known  as  the  Governor,  but  his 
duties  and  his  powers  are  precisely  the  same  as  those 
of  a  departmental  prefet  at  home. 

The  insular  deputies,  with  their  at  times  very  im- 
portant votes  in  the  National  Assembly,  are  much  more 
likely  to  be  considered  than  the  titular  head  of  the 
island  administration,  who,  in  the  political  world,  is 
nobody.  The  first  result  of  this  anomalous  state  of 
affairs  is  that  the  Governor  can  only  remain  in  office 
as  long  as  he  secures  the  support  of  the  deputies.  If 
he  would  remain,  he  must  share  with  them  his  powers. 

Since  the  destruction  of  Saint  Pierre,  which  was  the 
centre  of  the  white  population,  and  the  seat  of  culture 
in  the  French  islands,  the  equilibrium  between  the 
whites  and  blacks,  which  for  several  decades  had  been 
maintained,  with  each  year  increasing  difficulties,  has 
been  rudely  upset.  The  deputies  chosen  since  the  dis- 
aster have  been  almost  without  exception  men  of  the 
lowest  social  position,  and  of  most  radical  politics. 
The  idea  of  a  perfect  equality  between  the  races  has 
long  since  been  abandoned  as  antiquated,  and  upon  the 
stump  in  the  islands  at  least,  if  not  in  the  Palais  Bour- 
bon in  Paris,  the  negro  deputies  demand  the  supremacy 
of  the  blacks.  These  tribunes  of  the  cane  fields  and 
the  port  cafes  rule  the  unfortunate  Governor  of  the 
hour  with  an  iron  hand,  and  of  late  it  has  been  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  secure  suitable  men  for  this  un- 
enviable position.  It  cannot  be  disputed  that,  as  a 
rule,  the  administrators  sent  out  from  France  do  not 
compare   favourably  with   the   official   classes   of  the 


THE  FRENCH  ISLANDS  283 

British  islands,  and  in  view  of  the  existing  circum- 
stances, their  inferiority  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.* 

Aptly  illustrating  the  position  in  which  these  un- 
fortunate administrators  find  themselves  placed  is  the 
story  of  the  Governor  who,  after  five  months  of  of- 
fice, was  welcomed  back  to  the  boulevards  in  a  ban- 
quet given  in  his  honour  by  admiring  friends. 

"  You,  who  have  ruled  our  great  insular  dependency 
for  five  months,"  perorated  the  welcoming  orator. 

"  That  blague  may  go  in  the  Palais  Bourbon,"  in- 
terrupted the  Governor,  "  but,  among  friends,  I  must 
say  I  had  no  more  influence  or  control  over  the  destinies 
of  my  island  than  Sancho  Panza  had  over  his." 

The  question  of  the  hour  when  I  was  in  Guadeloupe, 
in  the  winter  of  1909,  was,  and  is  still,  L' Affaire  Legi- 
timus,  so  called  after  its  sad  hero,  a  negro  politician, 
who,  after  having  attained  the  highest  local  offices, 
was  finally  sent  to  France  to  represent  the  island  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  While  I  do  not  believe  all 
the  stories  current  in  white  circles  of  the  island  in  re- 
gard to  this  remarkable  political  trickster,  it  is  a 
fact  that,  despite  (or  should  I  say,  perhaps,  because 
of)  his  exceedingly  grotesque  appearance,  Legitimus 
is  the  idol  of  the  women  of  the  island,  and  his  suc- 
cesses are  due  entirely  to  their  suffrages,  expressed  at 
the  poll  through  merely  incidental  men  and  their 
servants.  While  politics  in  Gaudeloupe  are  in  an 
otherwise  very  modern  condition,  the  ballot  has  not  as 
yet  been  given  to  the  women,  who  must  still  exercise 
their  influence  indirectly. 

When  I  was  in  Pointe-a-Pitre,  the  administrative 
centre  of  the  colony  and  the  home  of  this  black  states- 
man, who  is  generally  regarded  by  foreign  observers, 

*See  Appendix,  page  459. 


284        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and,  I  think,  correctly,  as  a  typical  and  characteristic 
production  of  the  unhappy  political  conditions  that  here 
obtain,  advantage  was  taken  of  a  short  absence  of  M. 
Legitimus,  recently  elected  deputy,  to  examine  closely 
into  his  accounts  while  Mayor  of  the  capital.  As  a 
result  of  this  investigation,  warrants  were  immedi- 
ately issued  for  his  arrest.  Though  the  whole  island 
constabulary  was  engaged  in  his  pursuit,  Legitimus 
successfully  evaded  arrest  in  a  way  which  demonstrated 
how  illusory  is  the  French  control  of  the  island,  and 
how  powerless  is  the  alien  administration  to  enforce 
any  law  or  carry  out  any  project  which  runs  counter  to 
the  popular  will.  The  gendarmes  never  could  lay 
hands  upon  this  black  Spartacus,  though  I  believe  he 
was  never  more  than  a  day's  journey  away  from  the 
capital,  and  was  in  constant  communication  with  his 
friends  and  partisans.  By  some  of  these  latter  I  was 
invited  to  repair  to  his  hiding-place,  but  out  of  respect 
to  the  French  authorities  I  did  not  avail  myself  of  the 
opportunity,  which,  however,  was  tempting  in  many 
ways.  His  partisans  assured  me  that  Legitimus  had 
no  fear  as  to  the  result  of  the  trial,  though  they  re- 
gretted that  the  machinery  of  the  law  courts  was  prac- 
tically in  the  hands  of  his  enemies.  He  remained  in 
hiding,  they  claimed,  simply  awaiting  the  assembling  of 
the  French  Chamber,  when,  in  his  capacity  as  deputy, 
the  prosecution  would  have  to  admit  him  to  bail. 

In  Haytian  history  the  loyalty  and  faithfulness  of 
the  four  hundred  brothers-in-law  of  General  Jean  Jou- 
bert  is  legendary,  and  Deputy  Legitimus  would  seem 
to  exercise  the  same  fascination  over  all  the  members 
of  the  families  to  which  he  was  united  by  a  tie  which, 
in  our  world,  is  generally  regarded  as  a  purely  per- 


THE  FRENCH  ISLANDS  285 

sonal  one.  During  his  refuge  in  the  country,  the 
black  Adonis  was  not  allowed  to  mope  in  solitude. 
Some  fifty  women  of  the  capital,  representing  every 
negroid  type  in  complexion,  shared  his  hardships,  and 
their  brothers  organised  themselves  into  a  battalion, 
which  camped  around  the  sylvan  retreat,  ready  to  make 
short  shift  of  the  gendarmes,  had  they  stumbled 
upon  the  clue  to  the  sylvan  labyrinth  that  was  known 
to  so  very  many  people. 

Some  weeks  after  my  departure,  the  French  Cham- 
ber met,  and,  as  his  partisans  said  he  would,  M.  Legi- 
timus  presented  himself  for  trial.  He  was  found 
guilty  of  embezzlement  and  the  misuse  of  official  funds. 
The  blacks  made  very  alarming  demonstrations  be- 
fore the  courthouse,  and  the  night  after  the  verdict 
was  given  the  capital  was  set  on  fire  in  a  dozen  places. 
Several  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  damage 
was  done,  but,  fortunately,  the  city  escaped  the  total 
destruction  that  had  evidently  been  planned.  Unless 
clothed  with  some  consular  office,  or  unless  they  consort 
entirely  with  the  blacks,  the  French  Caribbees  are  a 
very  unpleasant  place  of  residence  for  white  men  to- 
day. The  ruling  spirits  of  the  black  political  groups 
are  imbued  with  the  most  revolutionary  ideas.  France 
has  always  showed  a  sentimental  attachment  for  these 
islands,  and  has  made  more  sacrifices  for  their  well- 
being  than  England  has  ever  cared  to  make  for  her 
West  Indian  possessions.  To-day,  however,  the  sen- 
timental tie  is  worn  quite  threadbare  under  the  con- 
stant friction  of  ingratitude.  The  French  Govern- 
ment, so  energetic  and  so  thoughtful  of  the  develop- 
ment of  its  other  colonies,  would  seem  inclined  to  let 
these  islands  go  by  the  board. 


286        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

It  cannot  be  emphasized  too  strongly  that  the 
political  situation  in  Martinique  and  Guadelope  is  de- 
plorable, and,  indeed,  a  menace  to  the  peace  of  the 
adjacent  islands.  The  blacks  have  complete  control  of 
all  the  electoral  districts  save  one,  assassination  of 
political  opponents  is  the  order  of  the  day,  and,  as 
the  investigation  recently  concluded  by  a  parlia- 
mentary commission  shows,  the  insular  officials  fre- 
quently seek  forgetfulness  of  their  sorrows  in  ether 
drams  and  injected  morphine.*  Professor  Sapper  of 
Tubingen  University  has  recently  visited  the  islands, 
and  came  away  with  very  pessimistic  impressions  of 
their  future.  He  draws  a  sad  picture  of  colonial  de- 
cay, and  agrees  with  Monsieur  De  Grandval,  a  recent 
French  writer  on  the  subject,  who  says  "  the  only  true 
remedy  for  the  existing  conditions  would  be  a  pro- 
found modification  of  the  conditions  of  colonial  repre- 
sentation " ;  in  other  words,  a  restriction  of  the  fran- 
chise to  those  worthy  of  it.  This  step  is  not  at  all 
likely  to  be  taken,  however.  If  it  is,  my  white  in- 
formants tell  me,  a  garrison  of  fifty  thousand  men 
would  be  required  to  protect  white  and  governmental 
property  on  the  islands.  I  have  preferred  to  let  Ger- 
man and  French  critics  reveal  the  situation  of  whites 
on  the  island,  but  I  must  add  that  I  personally  would 
prefer  to  take  my  chances  of  life  and  liberty  in  Hayti 
than  in  Guadeloupe  while  controlled  by  Monsieur  Legi- 
timus.  All  whites  who  have  other  resources,  or  the 
strength  and  the  will  to  seek  them  in  other  lands,  are 
leaving  the  islands,  and  those  who  are  compelled  by  cir- 
cumstances to  remain  are  greatly  to  be  pitied. 

I  have  quoted  the  views  of  Captain  Darrieus,  the 

*See  Appendix  I,  Note  III,  page  459. 


THE  FRENCH  ISLANDS  287 

French  naval  strategist,  in  my  introductory  chapter. 
It  has  seemed  interesting  to  me  to  follow  this  distin- 
guished officer  still  further  in  his  West  Indian  conclu- 
sions and  prophecies. 
He  says: 

"  But,  it  will  be  objected,  there  exists  no  pretext 
for  intervention  of  the  United  States  in  the  islands  that 
still  belong  to  European  powers.  That  is,  perhaps, 
true  to-day,  but  it  will  no  longer  be  so  to-morrow.  The 
method  to  be  pursued  has  undergone  the  test  of  experi- 
ence in  the  case  of  Cuba.  In  his  message  sent  to  Con- 
gress two  years  before  the  war.  President  Cleveland 
laid  particular  stress  upon  the  great  interest  which  all 
Americans  had  in  seeing  peace  established  in  Cuba.  In 
this  connection  he  neglected  to  admit  that  the  fires  of 
insurrection  were  started,  upon  the  one  hand,  upon 
American  soil  by  Cuban  refugees  who  were  received 
there  with  open  arms,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  fanned 
into  the  flame  of  open  revolt  on  the  shores  of  the  island 
by  former  revolutionists  who  had  become  naturalised 
citizens  of  America,  the  better  to  plot,  and,  above  all, 
to  do  so  with  the  least  danger  to  their  persons  and 
property. 

"  This  method  is  not  even  American,  for  it  has  long 
been  known  and  practised  in  the  world.  In  what  con- 
cerns us  more  directly  it  may  nevertheless  be  asked 
if  the  frequency  of  disturbances  during  recent  years 
in  the  French  West  Indies  really  has  its  single  origin 
in  internal  political  difficulties  ?  We  cannot  and  should 
not  fail  to  note  with  what  eagerness  the  first  assistance 
was  rendered  by  the  Americans  at  the  time  of  the 
catastrophe  in  Martinique  and  later  in  Jamaica. 

"  The  danger  [to  France  of  losing  her  West  Indian 
possessions]  exists  in  a  latent  state,  but  it  is  sure.  If  it 
can  be  considered  as  still  far  distant,  it  is  none  the  less 
necessary  to  examine  our  situation  with  all  possible 
care.     Strategy  offers  us  two  ways  of  preparing  for 


288        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

It,  and  two  only.  We  should  either  sell  our  West  In- 
dian islands  to  the  highest  bidder  or  we  should  get  our 
forces  ready  in  anticipation  of  a  possible  conflict  with 
America.  In  the  latter  event  the  lesson  of  the  Span- 
ish war,  derived  above  all  from  Spain's  errors,  clearly 
demonstrates  the  necessity  of  establishing  at  Fort  de 
France  an  immense  base  of  supplies  and  of  operations 
capable  of  supplying  our  entire  fleet. 

"  This  step  would  entail  vast  expense,  and  in  all 
probability  we  would  not  be  allowed  to  make  such  an 
effort  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  value  of  the  pos- 
sessions endangered.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  in  my 
opinion,  by  selling  Martinique  and  Guadeloupe  to  the 
United  States  we  would  accomplish  a  fine  stroke  of 
strategy.  I  insist  upon  this  because,  far  from  leaving 
our  subject,  we  are  showing  by  this  striking  example 
of  what  far-seeing  conceptions  the  military  art  is  made. 

"  While  these  islands  [Martinique  and  Guadeloupe] 
are  of  little  if  any  value  to  us — indeed,  they  are  simply 
a  costly  luxury — they  would  have  great  value  in  the 
possession  of  the  Americans.  Fort  de  France  espe- 
cially would  be  for  the  Americans  a  naval  base  of  ex- 
ceptional strategic  advantage  when  the  opening  of  the 
Panama  Canal  has  drawn  into  the  West  Indian  waters 
the  fleets  of  all  nations.  This  port  is  an  incomparable 
advance  post  of  Caribbean  empire,  and  its  acquisition 
would  be  for  the  Americans  a  conservative  investment, 
while  at  the  same  time  its  sale  would  relieve  us  of  a 
great  anxiety.  Indeed,  the  whole  transaction  would 
compare  favourably  with  Napoleon's  excellent  strategy 
in  the  Louisiana  affair. 

"  Above  all,  let  us  not  do  as  Spain  did,  when,  in 
1848,  the  United  States  Government  made  definite  pro- 
posals for  the  purchase  of  Cuba.  Wrapping  her  tat- 
tered mantle  about  her,  Spain  then  replied:  '  Rather 
than  that,  let  the  beautiful  island  be  engulfed  in  the 
sea.'  Fifty  years  later  she  lost  Cuba,  and  the  pur- 
chase money  which  she  might  have  had  and  which  now 
would  stand  her  in  such  good  stead." 


CHAPTER  XV 

Porto  Rico — Our  Political  Appendix 

Porto  Rico  is  generally  supposed  to  have  had  no 
history,  and,  in  lieu  of  it,  we  are  generally  regaled  with 
a  few  legends  in  regard  to  the  conquistadores  and  with 
romantic  imaginings  concerning  Ponce  de  Leon's  search 
for  the  fountain  of  youth.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
history  of  the  island,  which  was  not  "  ever  faithful  " 
as  the  Spanish  writers  would  have  us  believe,  is  only 
a  little  less  "  exasperated,"  to  use  a  Spanish  expression, 
than  that  of  Cuba.  Here,  of  course,  in  1819  and  in 
1820,  came  the  news  of  the  successful  independence 
wars  that  had  been  fought  against  Spanish  authority 
on  the  adjacent  continent,  and  in  neighbouring  islands. 
There  were  several  uprisings  in  1822,  when  General 
Delia  Torre,  who  had  been  driven  out  of  Venezuela 
by  Bolivar,  came  to  rule  in  Porto  Rico.  The  most  in- 
teresting of  these  revolutions  was  undoubtedly  one 
planned  by  a  Swiss  adventurer  named  Holstein.  He 
fomented  an  uprising  of  the  negroes  against  the  white 
inhabitants,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  founding  a 
republic.  The  slaves  were  not  to  be  granted  liberty, 
but  it  was  not  thought  necessary  to  inform  them  of 
this  until  the  victory  had  been  secured.  Some  of  the 
negroes,  who  were  in  the  plot,  started  the  rebellion 
prematurely,  and  it  was  bloodily  suppressed.  Hol- 
stein, with  two  vessels  laden  with  ammunition,  was 
stopped  in  Curacao,  and  he  was  obhged  to  abandon 

289 


290        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  enterprise.  Two  years  later  there  occurred  in 
Ponce  another  uprising  of  the  negroes.  Again  they 
were  crushed,  and  all  their  leaders  executed. 

About  this  time  there  occurred  an  interesting  and 
well-nigh  forgotten  incident  of  West  Indian  history. 
These  seas  were  still  infested  with  pirates,  who  fre- 
quently captured  merchant  ships  and  made  all  com- 
mercial undertakings  very  uncertain.  The  Spanish 
authorities  did  absolutely  nothing  to  stop  this  scan- 
dalous state  of  affairs,  and  the  Captain-General  of  the 
island  was  generally  supposed  to  have  a  working 
agreement  with  the  chiefs  of  the  pirates  that  was  very 
profitable  to  him  personally.  In  these  circumstances 
the  United  States  Government  felt  called  upon  to  do 
its  first  important  piece  of  police  work  in  the  Caribbean, 
and  a  fleet  of  ten  or  twelve  vessels,  under  Commodore 
David  Porter,  was  sent  out  with  orders  to  drive  the 
pirates  from  the  seas. 

There  was,  of  course,  immediate  friction  with  the 
Spanish  authorities,  and  our  vessels  were  refused  ad- 
mission to  the  harbour  of  San  Juan.  One  of  our  ships, 
however,  insisted  upon  entering,  was  fired  upon  from 
Moro  Castle,  and  her  commander  killed.  For  a 
moment  war  between  the  two  countries  seemed  likely, 
but  explanations  were  offered,  it  turned  out  that  the 
American  commander  had  been  at  least  technically  in 
the  wrong,  and  Commodore  Porter  accepted  the  ex- 
pression of  regret  which  the  Captain-General  hastened 
to  offer.  While  our  fleet  was  eminently  successful  in 
its  fight  against  the  pirates,  still  a  number  of  small 
craft  continued  to  disturb  the  commerce  of  the  island, 
and  in  1824  an  American  vessel  in  search  of  pirates 
entered  the  harbour  of  Fajardo.     The  ofllicials  of  this 


PORTO  RICO— OUR  POLITICAL  APPENDIX     291 

town  trained  their  guns  on  the  vessel  and  forbade  it 
to  leave  port.  For  all  answer,  Commodore  Porter 
sailed  into  the  harbour,  landed  his  men,  and  spiked  all 
the  guns  of  the  shore  batteries.  The  Spanish  Govern- 
ment, at  this  time  fully  occupied  with  troubles  at  home, 
does  not  seem  to  have  paid  any  attention  to  the  Amer- 
ican commodore's  unusual,  if  highly  successful,  action. 

From  now  on  piracy  became  a  pursuit  not  without 
danger.  It  was  not  entirely  suppressed,  however,  in 
these  ideal  seas  for  buccaneering  until  about  1840. 
General  De  La  Torre  lived  in  fear  that  the  independ- 
ence movement  would  reach  his  insular  vice-royalty, 
and,  to  distract  the  thought  of  the  people  from  politics, 
he  encouraged  all  popular  pleasures,  and  even  dissipa- 
tions. His  government  came  to  be  known  as  that  of 
the  "  three  B's,"  "  baile,  botella,  and  barraja,"  or,  "  the 
dance,  the  bottle,  and  the  gaming-booth," 

Juan  Prim  became  Captain-General  of  the  island  in 
1847,  ^^^  i^  the  following  year  there  occurred  the 
famous  insurrection  of  slaves  in  the  neighbouring  island 
of  Santa  Cruz.  Prim,  fearing  a  similar  outbreak, 
ordered  that  slaves  committing  any  offence,  however 
trivial,  should  be  tried  by  a  court  of  military  officers, 
and  authorized  the  planters  to  kill  their  slaves  at  any 
time  when,  in  their  judgment,  they  showed  an  inclina- 
tion to  rebellion.  This  was  called  in  the  island  legis- 
lation the  "  Black  Law,"  and  has  been  responsible  for 
many  more  murders  than  has  Judge  Lynch  in  the 
United  States. 

The  Emancipation  proclamation  of  Lincoln  struck  a 
responsive  chord  in  the  hearts  of  many  Porto  Ricans, 
and  societies  were  formed  to  urge  a  similar  grant  of 
freedom,  and,  in   1865,  the  Spanish  Government  in- 


292        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

vited  five  of  the  local  leaders  to  come  to  Madrid  to 
furnish  information  as  to  the  desired  reforms.  These 
men  declared  that  the  first  reform  should  be  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery.  The  Madrid  Government  was  rather 
inattentive  to  these  representations.  In  time  the  com- 
mission returned  home,  disgusted,  and  nothing  came 
of  their  labours. 

While  the  resulting  feeling  in  the  island  was  still 
very  bitter  against  Spain,  a  mutiny  occurred  in  the 
army.  This  furnished  the  Spaniards  with  an  excuse 
for  banishing  to  distant  lands  all  the  Porto  Rican 
leaders,  even  those  who,  at  the  request  of  the  home 
government,  had  criticised  the  existing  abuses.  The 
"  Black  Law  "  was  again  in  vigour  for  a  time,  and 
many  hundreds  of  slaves  were  killed  in  cold  blood.  In 
1868  a  revolution  broke  out  in  the  town  of  Lares; 
about  one  thousand  men  took  up  arms,  and  the  inde- 
pendence of  Porto  Rico  was  proclaimed.  The  Span- 
ish military  had  but  little  difficulty  in  coping  with  this 
uprising.  All  men  found  with  arms  in  their  pos- 
session were  killed,  and  of  those  imprisoned,  about 
sixty  per  cent,  died  of  yellow  fever. 

In  the  year  1873  Spain  became  a  republic,  and  on 
March  22d  of  that  year  the  Cortes  passed  an  act 
abolishing  slavery  in  Porto  Rico,  and  made  provision 
to  reimburse  the  owners  to  the  extent  of  eight  million 
dollars.  Thirty-four  thousand  slaves  were  set  free, 
and  the  industry  and  the  export  trade  of  the  island  do 
not  seem  to  have  suffered  greatly  in  consequence.  In 
1887  the  popular  discontent  found  expression  in  a 
political  agitation,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the  famous 
Porto  Rican  leader,  Baldorioty  de  Castro.  A  conven- 
tion was  held  in  Ponce,  and,  while  Spain's  authority 


PORTO  RICO— OUR  POLITICAL  APPENDIX     293 

over  the  Island  was  recognised,  the  assembled  leaders 
claimed  for  the  Porto  Ricans  the  right  to  regulate  their 
home  affairs  and  to  elect  delegates  to  the  legislative 
assembly  of  the  island  on  a  basis  of  manhood  suffrage. 
In  a  word,  the  convention  demanded  autonomy,  and 
soon  a  secret  movement  to  boycott  Spanish  products 
became  apparent.  Many  of  those  who  had  taken  part 
in  the  work  of  the  convention  were  dragged  from 
their  homes  at  night  by  the  police  and  taken  to  lonely 
places,  where  they  were  whipped  and  tortured  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  information  that  would  implicate 
others.  For  some  time  after  this  little  was  heard,  in 
public  at  least,  of  the  autonomist  party.  De  Castro 
died  and  the  leadership  fell  into  less  able  hands.  In 
1896  the  party  openly  divided.  Munoz  Rivera,  who 
is  still  a  powerful  factor  in  Porto  Rico,  and  his  fol- 
lowers favoured  a  union  with  the  liberal  party  among 
the  Spaniards,  while  Seiiores  Barbosa  and  Sanchez 
Morales  still  adhered  to  the  old  plan  of  self-govern- 
ment. 

Until  1872  the  Spanish  rule  of  the  island  was  ab- 
solute in  form  as  well  as  in  fact,  but  in  that  year,  the 
republicans  being  in  power  in  Madrid,  it  was  provided 
that  sixteen  delegates  and  four  senators  elected  by  the 
people  should  represent  the  island  in  the  two  houses  of 
the  Cortes.  Only  those  who  were  able  to  read  and 
write,  or  who  paid  a  tax  of  eight  dollars,  could  vote  in 
these  elections.  In  consequence,  the  number  of  voters 
was  small,  and  the  great  majority  of  the  representa- 
tives were  members  of  the  conservative  or  pro-Span- 
ish party.  The  form  of  representation  which  the 
islanders  had  desired  was  generously  planned  by  their 
republican  friends,  but  when  the  republic  disappeared 


294        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  the  conservatives,  not  to  say  the  reactionaries, 
came  once  again  to  the  control  of  affairs  in  Madrid, 
the  results  were  anything  but  satisfactory.  The  peo- 
ple claimed  that  the  elections  were  not  honest,  and 
that  their  candidates  could  never  be  elected.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  having  but  little  faith  in  the  sanctity  of 
the  ballot,  few  Porto  Ricans  took  the  trouble  to  vote, 
and  the  government  continued  practically  the  same  as 
in  former  days. 

In  November,  1897,  however,  under  the  pressure 
which  the  Cuban  situation  exercised,  and  practically  as 
a  war  measure,  preparatory  to  the  conflict  with  the 
United  States,  Spain  granted  an  autonomist  form  of 
government  to  the  island.  Provision  was  made  for 
an  assembly  of  district  representatives  and  an  admin- 
istrative council,  under  the  Governor  and  a  cabinet  of 
five  secretaries.  The  islanders  were  also  allowed  to 
retain  the  same  number  of  delegates  and  senators  in 
the  Cortes.  Practically  this  autonomous  form  of  gov- 
ernment was  never  established,  the  Spanish-American 
war  intervening,  and,  of  course,  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment never  had  the  slightest  intention  of  carrying  out 
the  concessions  which  were  made  under  great  pressure. 
However,  the  act  of  autonomy  is  a  very  living  and  vital 
subject  in  Porto  Rican  politics.  Measured  by  this 
paper  legislative  act,  the  American  form  of  govern- 
ment seems  less  generous,  and,  of  course,  *'  autonomy 
as  the  Spaniards  gave  it  to  us  "  is  the  rallying  cry  of 
many  malcontents. 

The  grievances  of  the  Porto  Ricans  are,  none  the 
less,  real,  because  they  are  formal  rather  than  of  fact, 
sentimental  rather  than  substantial.  The  island  is 
practically  governed  by  the  Insular  Bureau  of  the  War 


PORTO  RICO— OUR  POLITICAL  APPENDIX     295 

Department,  with  the  occasional  advice  and  counsel  of 
a  congressional  committee,  which  is  burdened  with 
many  other  important  duties.  The  authority  at  law 
of  the  insular  administration  is  drawn  from  the 
Foraker  bill,  a  most  excellent  piece  of  legislation, 
which,  however,  was  only  designed  to  fill  an  interim, 
to  act  as  a  stop-gap.  Unfortunately  for  us,  and  for 
Porto  Rico,  this  temporary  form  of  government  has 
now  done  service  for  twelve  years.  Our  whole  co- 
lonial future  is  involved  in  the  changes  which  the  Porto 
Ricans  desire,  and  new  legislation  is  bound  to  come 
slowly.  The  highly  civilised  Latins  of  San  Juan  and 
of  Ponce  must  wait,  it  would  seem,  for  some  time  yet 
upon  the  savage  Malays  of  Samar. 

A  great  majority  of  Porto  Ricans,  I  believe,  would 
be  satisfied  with  a  territorial  form  of  government,  al- 
though they  clamour  most  loudly  for  statehood.  Mr. 
Cannon  thinks,  however,  that  for  this  honour  an 
eternity  of  apprenticeship  would  not  be  overlong  for 
them  to  serve.  With  the  exceptions  noted,  and  with 
a  rose  leaf  here  and  there,  the  Porto  Ricans  are  in  a 
very  fortunate  position.  They  are  growing  rich,  and 
the  share  of  self-government  allotted  them  is  equal  to 
their  needs  and,  perhaps,  to  their  capacities.  Their  in- 
ternational relation,  however,  is  anomalous  and  un- 
comfortable. They  are  no  longer  subjects  of  Spain, 
and  they  have  not  become,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the 
word,  citizens  of  the  United  States.  It  is  true  that  the 
Supreme  Court  has  decided  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
island  of  Porto  Rico  are  entitled  to  the  protection  of 
the  United  States  Government,  and  that  passports  for 
foreign  travel  may  be  issued  to  them;  still,  they  remain 
men  without  a  country,  and  the  disdain  on  our  part 


296         THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  their  unfortunate  situation  implies  has  wounded 
the  race  pride  of  the  Porto  Ricans  deeply,  and  is  the  in- 
spiration of  much  of  the  discontent  and  unrest  that  are 
so  noticeable  throughout  the  island. 

Our  failure  to  legislate  for  Porto  Rico  in  a  per- 
manent form  is  variously  interpreted  by  publicists  in 
Latin-America.  By  some  it  is  held  that  our  neglect  and 
dilatory  tactics  are  inspired  by  the  disdain  with 
which,  according  to  Manuel  Ugarte  and  other  incen- 
diary writers,  we  view  all  Latin-Americans.  It  is,  of 
course,  pointed  out  and  emphasised  In  this  connection 
that,  though  we  have  given  the  franchise  to  the  negro, 
we  withhold  it  from  the  Porto  Ricans,  although  they 
are  largely  of  white  blood. 

On  the  other  hand,  and  in  other  quarters,  the  failure 
of  Congress  to  place  our  relations  with  our  only  col- 
ony upon  a  permanent  basis  is  frequently  interpreted 
by  Latin-Americans  as  meaning  that  the  wave  of  Im- 
perialism dating  from  1898  has  spent  its  force,  and 
that  there  is  a  probability  that  we  will  at  some  future 
day  withdraw  from  the  island,  and  leave  the  Porto 
Ricans  to  their  own  devices. 

The  facts  are,  of  course,  quite  at  variance  with  these 
suppositions.  It  is  the  unfortunate  fate  of  the  island, 
our  first  colony,  that  its  destiny  and  its  legal  status  are 
involved  with  many  of  the  vexatious  and  unsettled 
questions  of  the  day,  to  mention  only  two,  expansion 
and  the  race  question.  It  is  fully  recognised,  in  and 
out  of  Congress  by  our  public  men,  that  aligned  be- 
hind the  Porto  Rico  problem  stand  the  thorny  ques- 
tions of  the  ultimate  future  of  much  non-contiguous 
territory,  of  the  Philippines  certainly,  and  of  Cuba  in 
all  human  probability.     In  the   end,   a   solution  will 


PORTO  RICO— OUR  POLITICAL  APPENDIX     297 

doubtless  be  reached  by  the  concession  to  the  islanders 
of  a  plan  of  progressive  citizenship  such  as  has  recently 
and  with  satisfactory  results  been  conferred  upon  the 
people  of  Madagascar  by  the  government  of  the 
French  Republic. 

In  the  meantime,  while  the  cornerstone  of  our 
colonial  edifice  is  being  fashioned,  the  situation  of  the 
Porto  Ricans  is  one  that  cannot  fail  to  be  exceedingly 
trying  to  a  high-strung  people.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that, 
with  the  growing  appreciation  which  the  educated 
classes  on  the  island  show,  of  the  vast  importance  to 
the  Caribbean  world  of  the  measure  of  self-govern- 
ment they  may  be  thought  worthy  to  enjoy,  they  will 
continue  to  await  the  result  of  congressional  delibera- 
tions with  patience  and  dignity,  and,  above  all,  that 
they  will  turn  deaf  ears  to  the  counsels  of  the  dema- 
gogic leaders,  who  are  unfortunately  so  numerous  in 
several  of  the  political  groups  that  have  recently  dis- 
tinguished themselves  more  by  incendiary  speeches  than 
by  acts  that  would  hasten  the  concession  of  the  form  of 
citizenship  which  they  pretend  to  desire.  In  reality 
many  of  these  insular  statesmen  are  so  unbalanced  as 
to  pursue  the  dream  of  complete  severance  of  all 
political  relations  with  the  United  States. 

The  long-expected,  I  may  say  the  long-delayed,  plan 
for  the  government  of  the  island  of  Porto  Rico  is  em- 
bodied in  a  report  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  which,  in 
February,  19 10,  President  Taft  transmitted  to  Con- 
gress with  his  full  approval  and  endorsement.  The  es- 
sential features  of  the  bill  are  as  follows: 

"  I.  Citizens  of  Porto  Rico  may  become  citizens  of 
the  United  States  by  a  naturalisation  process.     After 


298        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

two  years,  only  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  be 
eligible  to  election  or  appointment  to  any  office  in  Porto 
Rico. 

"  2.  The  Governor  and  heads  of  Departments 
shall  hold  office,  not  for  a  definite  term  of  four  years, 
but  at  the  pleasure  of  the  President  and  until  their  suc- 
cessors are  appointed. 

"  3.  In  lieu  of  the  present  Executive  Council  there 
shall  be  a  Senate  of  thirteen  members,  eight  of  whom 
shall  be  appointed  every  four  years  by  the  President, 
five  of  whom  shall  be  elected  every  four  years  by  the 
qualified  electors  of  Porto  Rico  by  Senatorial  districts. 

"  4.  Only  those  shall  vote  in  Porto  Rico  who  are 
either  able  to  read  and  write,  or  own  taxable  real 
estate,  or  have  paid  taxes  for  the  last  six  months  of 
the  year  in  which  the  election  is  held. 

"  5.  All  franchises  granted  by  the  local  Government 
must  be  approved  by  the  President,  and  shall  be  sub- 
ject to  amendment,  alteration,  or  appeal;  stock-water- 
ing is  forbidden." 

This  proposed  legislation,  in  the  matter  of  citizen- 
ship, is  not  as  generous  as  the  plan  which  President 
Roosevelt  twice  recommended  to  Congress.  Under 
this  law  citizenship  is  to  be  acquired  by  progressive 
steps,  and  by  a  naturalisation  process.  While  Amer- 
ican protection  is  vouchsafed  to  all,  American  citizen- 
ship must  be  achieved  by  the  individual,  and  is  not  con- 
ferred indiscriminately  by  an  all-embracing  decree. 
The  native  representation  in  the  Executive  Council  is 
notably  increased,  and  the  way  to  ultimate  self-govern- 
ment is  clearly  pointed  out.  However,  this  plan  of 
government  for  Porto  Rico  has  also  failed  to  obtain 
congressional  sanction. 

There  is  one  achievement  of  the  American  admin- 
istration in  Porto  Rico  which  it  is  difficult  and,  per- 


PORTO  RICO— OUR  POLITICAL  APPENDIX     299 

haps,  impossible  to  speak  of  without  showing  a  pride 
and  gratification  which  would  expose  me  to  the  familiar 
charge  of  spread-eagleism  at  the  hands  of  our  very 
self-contained  cousins,  the  English.  When  the  island 
came  into  our  hands  half  the  rural  population,  and 
practically  all  the  poor  whites,  or  gibiros,  were  found 
suffering  from  a  parasitical  disease  now  known  to 
science  as  uncinariasis,  and  were  greatly  depressed  and 
crippled  mentally  and  physically  by  the  resulting 
anaemia.  This  at  the  time  unknown  parasite  was  prey- 
ing upon  an  unfortunate  people  to  an  extent  which 
has,  I  believe,  no  parallel  in  well-authenticated  med- 
ical history.  The  ravages  of  the  disease  were  not 
confined  to  any  one  section;  it  was  a  case  of  the  total 
infection  of  an  island  possessing  an  area  of  over  three 
thousand  square  miles,  with  a  population  of  over  eight 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  with  a  soil  that  appar- 
ently affords  the  greatest  advantages  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  larva  which,  under  the  then  prevailing 
conditions  of  tropical  life,  will  infect  mankind  and 
produce  this  disease. 

Of  course,  the  existence  of  the  disease  was  not  un- 
known to  Spaniards.  Its  external  manifestations 
were  to  be  seen  on  every  side,  especially  in  the  rural 
districts.  Large  numbers  of  the  peasants  were  af- 
flicted with  a  striking  pallor,  they  showed  the  outward 
signs  of  malnutrition,  and  their  efficiency  for  field  work, 
or,  indeed,  for  any  stable  occupation,  had  been  reduced 
fifty  per  cent,  at  least.  Twenty-five  per  cent,  of  those 
afflicted  had  become  absolutely  incapacitated,  and  were 
a  drag  upon  and  an  expense  to  the  communities  in 
which  they  continued  to  lead  their  pitiable  and  most 
unprofitable  existences.     As  I  have  said,  the  ravages  of 


300         THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  mysterious  disease  had  been  noticed  by  the  Span- 
iards, but  they  were  accepted  as  one  of  the  penalties  of 
tropical  life  with  that  fatalistic  spirit  by  which  the 
modern  Spaniard  betrays  his  Moorish  ancestry. 

In  the  very  earliest  days  of  our  occupation  the  dis- 
ease was  subjected  to  a  careful  clinical  and  patho- 
logical study  by  Dr.  B.  K.  Ashford,  a  young  United 
States  Army  surgeon.  This  investigation  did  not  stop 
with  simply  ascertaining  scientific  data  and  facts.  Dr. 
Ashford  originated  a  treatment  in  a  small  clinic  of 
his  own  that  soon  gave  astonishing  results  in  the  up- 
building of  failing  strength  and  in  curing  semi-invalid- 
ism.  About  this  time  it  was  found  that  the  deaths  from 
this  disease  in  the  year  1901  amounted  to  eleven  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  seventy-five — in  a  word,  the  dis- 
ease had  become  a  pest,  and,  as  a  result,  the  island  was 
working  on  half  time  or  less.  The  insular  administra- 
tion immediately  took,  the  matter  in  hand,  and  a  per- 
manent commission  was  appointed,  with  large  powers 
and  with  considerable  resources  for  the  suppression  of 
the  disease.  Dr.  Ashford,  who  had  blazed  the  way 
and  secured  such  miraculous  results,  was  called  to 
preside  over  the  commission,  and  to  direct  its  labours. 
Some  thirty  or  forty  stations  or  clinics  were  started  at 
various  suitable  points  throughout  the  island,  and  in 
the  first  six  months  some  five  thousand  patients  were 
treated,  and  over  ninety-eight  per  cent,  of  these  were 
returned  to  their  homes  completely  cured.  In  the  fol- 
lowing years  the  work  of  the  commission  expanded, 
and  in  the  year  1907-1908,  over  eighty-one  thousand 
people  were  treated,  of  whom  less  than  one-tenth  of 
one  per  cent,  died,  of  whom  more  than  sixty  per  cent, 
were  absolutely  cured,  while  the  remainder  were  still 


PORTO  RICO— OUR  POLITICAL  APPENDIX     301 

under  treatment,  with  overwhelming  chances  in  favour 
of  recovery  when  the  annual  report  was  drawn  up. 
In  this  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
five  people  died  of  the  disease,  or  a  reduction  in  five 
years  of  one  thousand  per  cent. 

For  some  reason  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter  upon 
here,  no  provision  was  made  in  the  insular  budget  for 
the  fiscal  year  1908-1909  to  carry  on  this  wonder- 
working campaign,  and  the  commission,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Governor,  ordered  that  all  stations  for 
clinical  treatment  be  closed  at  the  end  of  June,  1908. 
Such  medicines  as  were  on  hand  were  delivered  to  the 
alcaldes,  to  be  used  by  them  for  the  continuance  of 
the  treatment  of  the  poorer  patients  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  municipal  authorities.  One  of  the  ob- 
jections made  to  the  continuance  of  the  work  by  the 
insular  authorities  had  been  that  it  was  excessive 
paternalism,  and  that,  after  all,  the  municipalities 
should  be  charged  with  the  care  of  their  sick  from  this, 
as  well  as  from  other,  diseases.  It  was  also  stated 
that  the  municipalities  were  tired  of  the  interference  of 
the  central  government,  and  desired  to  do  the  work 
themselves.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  sooner  was  the 
action  of  the  budget  committee  known  than  the  Gov- 
ernor was  besieged  with  petitions  from  every  municipal 
council  in  the  island,  asking  that  the  work  might  be 
continued  as  formerly,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
will  be  done.  At  an  expenditure  of  less  than  fifty 
thousand  dollars  a  year  during  a  period  of  five  years, 
this  epoch-making  work  has  been  carried  on.  It  has 
attracted  the  admiration  and  commendation  of  all  med- 
ical officers  in  the  tropical  world,  it  has  reduced  the 
death  rate  from  this  disease  in  this  short  period  ten 


302         THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hundred  per  cent.,  it  has  increased  the  manual  efficiency 
of  the  rural  Porto  Rican  immeasurably,  and  it  seems 
a  pity  that  political  jealousy  and  shortsightedness 
should  allow  this  wonderful  work  to  pass  into  less  com- 
petent hands. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
Mexico  After  Diaz 

The  causes  of  the  discontent  with  the  present  regime 
in  Mexico  are  not  far  to  seek.  They  are  none  the 
less  real  factors  in  the  situation  because  they  could 
have  been  foreseen  or  because  they  are  for  the  most 
part  unavoidable.  As  long  as  Diaz  remained  in 
power,  and  the  capture  of  his  stronghold  was  ob- 
viously the  first  step  to  be  taken,  the  revolutionary 
groups  presented  an  united  front,  and  they  seemed  to 
be  entirely  in  accord  as  to  the  purpose  as  well  as  to  the 
methods  of  the  revolution. 

In  the  hour  of  victory,  however,  divergences  of 
opinion  appeared.  In  Mexico  a  successful  revolution 
has  always  been  a  law  unto  itself,  and  a  slightly  modi- 
fied form  of  the  biblical  vae  victis  regarded  as  a  rea- 
sonable proposition  with  which  even  the  vanquished 
were  not  inclined  to  quarrel.  But  the  platform  of  the 
provisional  government,  installed  after  the  resignation 
and  flight  of  Diaz,  which,  as  it  existed  by  his  favour, 
Madero  naturally  inspired,  approached  the  task  with 
far  less  drastic  remedies  than  had  been  expected,  and, 
as  is  now  apparent  in  some  quarters,  these  measures 
have  proved  far  from  satisfying. 

Provisional  administrations  were  hastily  installed  in 
the  various  States  to  run  matters  on  a  hand-to-mouth 
system  until,  at  the  October  election,  191 1,  the  people 
could  be  consulted  as  to  their  wishes.     The  promise 

303 


304        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  effective  suffrage,  which,  in  Mexico  at  least,  is  re- 
garded as  manhood  suffrage,  was  repeated,  as  was  also 
the  "  no-re-election  "  legend,  which  had  been  inscribed 
upon  so  many  banners.  But  it  cannot  be  disguised 
that  to  a  people  of  optimistic  temperament  like  the 
Mexicans  the  first-fruits  of  the  revolutionary  harvest 
were  meagre  as  to  bulk  and  disappointing  as  to  taste. 
Instead  of  the  immediate  restitution  which  the  Chi- 
huahua ranchman,  who  had  been  robbed  of  his  estate, 
or  the  hemp  grower  in  Yucatan,  whose  plantation  was 
confiscated,  had  expected,  the  revolutionists  were  told 
that  they  must  content  themselves  with  a  regime  under 
which  the  recurrence  of  similar  wrongs  would  be  im- 
possible, and,  with  an  opportunity  of  getting  back  by 
due  process  of  law  what  had  been  taken  from  them, 
by  addressing  themselves  to  the  very  courts  which 
tacitly,  at  least,  had  sanctioned  the  robberies  of  which 
they  complained. 

While  public  attention  followed  closely  the  revolu- 
tion in  Portugal,  owing  to  the  interesting  personalities 
involved,  the  struggle  for  control  in  Mexico  passed  al- 
most unnoticed  in  the  United  States,  until  it  entailed 
practically  the  mobilisation  of  our  whole  regular  army. 
I  hold  to  the  opinion  that  the  revolution  had  to  come 
sooner  or  later,  and  that,  as  there  was  nothing  of  edu- 
cational value  in  the  Diaz  regime,  which  had  long  out- 
lived its  former  undoubted  usefulness,  the  sooner  it 
came  the  better  for  us  and  all  others  concerned. 
Without  wishing  in  the  least  to  detract  from  the  skill 
with  which  the  whole  Mexican  situation  was  handled 
by  the  administration,  or  from  Ambassador  Wilson's 
trained  diplomacy,  to  which  we  all  owe  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude, I  am  still  of  the  opinion  that  had  not  the  sym- 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  305 

pathy  of  our  border  population  been  overwhelmingly 
with  the  revolutionists,  and  had  they  not  recognised 
that  intervention  on  our  part  would  have  been  the 
salvation  of  the  Diaz  regime,  the  situation  would  have 
passed  out  of  official  control  and  intervention  become 
a  fact.  As  it  was,  the  revolution  cost  the  lives  of 
twenty  American  citizens,  who  were  killed  while  fol- 
lowing their  vocations  on  American  soil,  and  of  at 
least  forty  other  non-combatant  Americans,  working 
for  their  daily  bread  in  Mexico,  Our  losses  from  the 
destruction  of  property  and  disturbance  to  business  run 
into  the  millions;  so  it  would  seem  to  be  plain  that  the 
outbreak  of  another  revolution  is  a  very  intimate  con- 
cern of  ours. 

Sentimentalists  on  both  sides  of  the  Rio  Grande  may 
regret  the  disappearance  of  the  desert  of  Northern 
Mexico,  which  Benito  Juarez,  a  great  man  in  his  day, 
sought  to  maintain  intact  with  all  its  features  of 
pristine  inhospitality.  Juarez,  who  was  not  versed 
in  American  politics,  credited  the  desert  with  stopping 
Taylor's  army  after  Santa  Anna  had  fled,  and  in  many 
addresses  to  his  people  he  insisted  upon  the  value  of 
this  natural  and,  as  he  thought,  insurmountable  bar- 
rier between  a  strong,  masterful  power  and  a  weak 
one.  To-day,  however,  the  desert  has  vanished,  and 
the  two  countries  have  grown  very  close  together. 
The  daily  relations  between  our  Southwest  and  the 
Mexican  Republic  are  thought  by  many  to  be  closer 
and  of  greater  value  than  those  which  exist  between 
many  of  our  groups  of  states  at  home.  The  desert, 
shorn  of  its  dangers,  is  traversed  by  railways  which, 
in  efficiency  and  capacity,  compare  favourably  with 
many  of  our   trunk  lines.     Every   day   the   potential 


3o6        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

wealth  of  the  country  is  more  clearly  realised,  and 
every  day  becomes  more  marked  the  southward 
migration  of  our  people  following  the  great  railways 
and  the  coast  lines.  In  fact,  large  districts  of  the 
country  in  Tamaulipas,  Tehuantepec,  and  elsewhere 
have  been  divested  of  all  Mexican  characteristics. 
They  are  largely  owned  and  occupied  by  our 
people,  and  appear  to  be  detached  portions  of  our 
country. 

Even  during  the  more  acute  phases  of  the  revolu- 
tion, when  travel,  and  even  residence,  in  Mexico  was 
not  without  danger  for  foreigners,  as  well  as  for 
natives,  the  home-seeking  excursions  of  American 
farmers  and  miners  spying  out  the  cheap,  fertile  lands, 
and  the  undeveloped  treasure,  hardly  suffered  any  de- 
crease. The  revolution  did  not  stop  this  migration, 
and  the  sum  of  our  investments,  estimated  at  one  thou- 
sand millions,  and  the  number  of  our  citizens  prob- 
ably greatly  exceeding  the  official  figures  of  fifty  thou- 
sand, are  increasing  every  day.  These  are  not  fili- 
busterers,  these  fifty  thousand  men,  neither  are  they 
adventurers.  They  have  done  nothing  to  invalidate 
their  citizenship,  and  they  have  the  same  right  to  the 
protection  of  our  Government  as  their  brothers  who 
are  seeking  their  fortunes  in  the  British  dominions  on 
the  north.  Every  year  our  mining  schools  and  our 
agricultural  colleges  are  sending  out  into  the  world 
thousands  of  young  men,  of  whom  a  large  and  increas- 
ing proportion  take  the  southward  path,  which  leads 
to  opportunity  to-day.  This  is  a  natural  movement, 
which  cannot  be  controlled  by  officials  in  either  Wash- 
ington or  Mexico. 

That  this  movement  is  welcomed  by  the  intelligent 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  307 

classes  of  Mexican  society  to-day  cannot  be  denied, 
though  the  Porfirista  news  channels,  through  which, 
unfortunately,  the  greater  part  of  Mexican  news  filters 
out  into  foreign  lands,  hint  darkly  at  the  organisation 
of  a  great  anti-foreign  party,  which  bodes  ill  to  for- 
eign interests  in  the  country.  The  answer  to  this  is 
that  the  educated  classes  in  our  sister  republic  are 
much  more  numerous  than  one  would  gather  to  be  the 
case  from  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  official  statistics 
published  by  the  Diaz  regime.  It  is  always  well  to 
remember  that  these  appalling  figures  of  illiteracy  and 
the  tableaux  which  show  the  brutality  of  the  peon 
classes  were  drawn  up  with  an  entire  disregard  for 
truth,  and  for  the  sole  purpose  of  justifying  the  ab- 
solute exclusion  of  all  classes  of  citizens  from  any 
share  in  their  own  government,  all  but  a  few  sub- 
servient individuals  who  obeyed  the  Dictator's  slightest 
nod. 

It  should  be  mentioned  to  his  credit  that  Madero  has 
met  the  anti-foreign  issue  with  characteristic  frank- 
ness and  honesty.  To-day,  while  the  throes  of  the 
great  revolution  which  convulsed  the  country  are  only 
beginning  to  subside,  he  never  fails  in  his  public  utter- 
ances or  in  private  conversations  to  recognise  the  im- 
mense services  which  foreign  capital  and  engineering 
skill  have  rendered  to  his  country.  He  invites  a  con- 
tinuance of  these  services,  and  solemnly  promises  to 
respect  all  rights  which  have  been  honestly  acquired  by 
aliens. 

During  the  recent  crisis,  when,  for  a  moment  at 
least,  it  looked  as  if  the  sudden  flight  of  Diaz  and  the 
complete  collapse  of  his  administration  would  wreck 
the  country,  there  was  open  and  frank  discussion  in 


3o8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Washington,  and  In  the  press  throughout  the  United 
States,  as  to  what  were  the  responsibilities  our  Gov- 
ernment had  incurred  toward  our  citizens  who  had 
not  hesitated  to  venture  either  their  lives  or  their  sav- 
ings in  Mexico,  and  the  old  cry  was  raised,  "  Let  the  in- 
vestor beware — caveat  emptor."  Happily,  action  upon 
this  issue  has  not  as  yet  been  required,  but  it  may 
not  be  indefinitely  postponed. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  action  of  our  Government 
in  defence  of  individual  investments,  should  a  state  of 
anarchy  arise  in  Mexico,  there  are  certainly  other  in- 
terests at  stake  whose  encouragement  and  preservation 
are  a  national  duty  which  admits  of  no  compromise. 
I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  development  by  our  Cali- 
fornia pioneers  of  the  Huasteca  oil-fields,  which  extend 
along  the  Gulf  littoral,  from  north  of  Tampico  to  south 
of  Vera  Cruz.  The  development  of  the  last  five 
years  reveals  these  oil-fields  as  the  greatest  reservoir 
of  cheap  power  which  the  world  has  ever  seen,  or  is 
likely  to  see.  In  comparison  with  their  possibilities 
the  oil-fields  of  Baku  have  but  the  value  of  a  donkey 
engine  as  compared  to  a  Corliss  giant,  and  oil-burning 
freighters  promise  to  work  an  economic  revolution  in 
steam  navigation.  With  this  development  the  whole 
complexion  and  future  of  the  Caribbean  world  has  un- 
dergone a  change.  If  this  oil-fuel  can  be  laid  down  at 
Panama,  as  it  is  claimed  it  can  be,  for  fifty  per  cent,  less 
than  the  equivalent  in  coal,  the  commercial  success  of 
the  Panama  Canal,  undreamed  of  five  years  ago,  is 
assured.  Certainly  a  cause  of  rejoicing  to  the  Amer- 
ican taxpayer,  and  to  everybody  concerned,  except,  per- 
haps, the  shareholders  in  the  Suez  Canal, 

Many  of  the  present  embarrassing  features  of  the 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  309 

situation  are  not  due  either  in  whole  or  in  part  to  the 
unfitness  or  unpreparedness  of  the  Mexican  people  for 
self-government.  They  are  the  direct  consequence  of 
the  pure  motives  which  have  inspired  Don  Francisco 
Madero,  and  of  the  high  ideals  which  he  has  pursued. 
Human  nature  being  what  it  is,  in  Mexico  as  well  as 
elsewhere,  the  doctrine  which  Madero  presented  to 
his  followers  in  the  hour  of  victory,  that  to  the  victors 
do  not  belong  the  spoils,  did  not  excite  unbounded  en- 
thusiasm. Indeed,  in  many  circles  it  added  weight  to 
the  charge  already  brought  with  frequency  against 
Madero  that  he  was  a  dreamer  in  politics  and  a 
philosopher  of  the  study  rather  than  a  practical  leader 
of  men.  Anot:her  embarrassment  was  created  by  the 
fact  that  this  was  a  civilian  revolution  against  a  mili- 
tary despotism.  It  was  this  feature  of  the  Madero 
revolt  that  had  appealed  to  the  best  people  of  Mexico. 
It  was  a  rising  of  theoretically  free-born  citizens 
against  the  military  chief,  who  remained  in  power,  in- 
trenched behind  the  bayonets  of  convict  soldiers,  and 
by  whom  the  people  of  the  country  were  practically 
enslaved. 

This  lofty  note  having  been  struck  in  the  war  plan 
published  at  San  Luis  Potosi,  such  a  break  with  the  Cen- 
tral-American tradition  and  practice  having  been  made, 
the  revolution  could  not  end,  as  had  so  many  in  Mex- 
ico and  adjacent  States,  by  a  more  or  less  equitable  dis- 
tribution of  the  offices  and  spoils  among  the  victors, 
though  such  a  course  would  have  undoubtedly  led  to 
an  immediate,  if  only  temporary,  pacification  of  the 
country.  I  have  the  best  of  reasons  for  knowing  that 
Madero  was  fully  alive  to  the  dangers  of  the  choice 
which  he  made  when  confronted  by  the  horns  of  this 


310        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

dilemma.  He  never  wavered,  however,  in  his  con- 
fidence in  his  people,  and  once  Diaz  had  disappeared 
from  the  scene,  he  disbanded  the  fifty  thousand  suc- 
cessful revolutionists,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  hun- 
dred who  were  admitted  into  the  rural  police,  and  sent 
them  to  their  homes.  They  went  with  the  conscious- 
ness of  duty  done  and  a  promise  of  improved  condi- 
tions, but  with  little  or  no  immediate  and  tangible  re- 
ward. And  in  a  military  sense  the  defeated  cohorts  of 
Diaz,  as  represented  in  the  regular  federal  army,  re- 
mained masters  of  the  situation. 

Of  course,  it  was  planned  by  the  provisional  govern- 
ment to  withdraw  from  the  colours  all  men  who  had 
been  drafted  into  the  regular  federal  army,  or  men 
whose  military  service  was  being  accepted  in  lieu  of 
prison  sentence;  but  with  many  other  problems  at  hand 
pressing  for  solution,  very  little  progress  seems  to  have 
been  made  in  the  way  of  putting  this  plan  into  opera- 
tion. So  powerful  was  the  course  of  events,  so  con- 
fident was  Madero  in  the  integrity  of  his  people,  and 
the  almost  absolute  unanimity  of  their  acceptance  of 
his  plan  and  platform,  that  at  a  time  when  his  country 
was,  and,  indeed,  any  other  country  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances would  have  been,  the  scene  of  great  dis- 
orders, and  an  attractive  field  for  those  uneasy  spirits 
who  fish  in  troubled  waters,  and,  as  the  elections  ap- 
proached, which  there  was  no  reason  to  believe  would 
take  an  entirely  placid  course,  he  placed  the  army, 
which  is  practically  the  police  power,  in  the  hands  of 
the  defeated  party.  The  importance  of  this  step  can, 
of  course,  be  greatly  exaggerated,  but  it  is  certain  that 
it  gave  to  the  people  who  had  defended  the  despotic 
regime  until  its  collapse  a  strong  position  from  which 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  311 

to  oppose  or  hamper  the  enforcement  of  the  revolu- 
tionary reforms. 

Madero's  conduct  in  this  respect  may  have  been 
quixotic,  and  it  is  certain  that  many  of  the  troubles  by 
which  the  new  regime  is  hampered  would  have  been 
obviated  by  the  taking  of  a  less  confiding,  a  less  lawful, 
course.  Believing  that  the  civil  would  never  again  be- 
come subordinate  to  the  military  arm  of  the  govern- 
ment, Madero  overlooked  the  undoubted  power  which, 
in  a  country  like  Mexico,  is  derived  from  the  support 
and  adherence  of  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men, 
however  poorly  educated  they  may  be,  and  however 
faulty  their  equipment,  and  however  out  of  touch  they 
may  be  with  the  political  aspirations  of  the  people. 
Madero  also  paid  his  people  the  high  compliment  of 
expecting  from  them  a  keener  political  sense  and  a 
greater  measure  of  self-control  than  they  have  been 
able  to  compass,  surprisingly  great  as  have  been  their 
achievements  in  both  these  directions.  The  popular 
ferment  and  unrest  so  increasingly  noticeable  to-day 
in  many  parts  of  Mexico  are  undoubtedly,  in  part  at 
least,  a  consequence  of  the  great  demands  of  self- 
restraint  which  the  revolutionary  chief  has  made  upon 
the  people;  and  while  conditions  are  admittedly  dis- 
quieting, they  are  certainly  preferable  to  the  hopeless 
gloom  and  discontent  which  would  have  possessed  the 
better  classes  of  Mexican  society,  had  the  higher  ideals 
of  their  idolised  leader  been  completely  shattered,  as 
so  many  observers  of  Mexican  affairs  did  not  hesitate 
to  prophesy  they  would  be,  by  the  first  impact  with 
reality. 

This  little  Mexican  gentleman  is  an  Interesting  and 
a  profitable  study  even  from  this  side  of  the  border. 


312        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

He  neither  smokes  nor  attends  bull-fights.  He  ab- 
hors the  barbaric  pomp  with  which  Diaz  loved  to  sur- 
round himself.  He  is  not  a  friend  of  lotteries,  and  he 
plans  the  end  of  the  pulque  traffic.  He  has  never 
mixed  with  men,  yet  he  has  been  able  to  placate  more 
conflicting  interests  and  clashing  groups  than  Diaz  did 
in  his  thirty  years  of  power.  He  risked  friends,  fam- 
ily, and  fortune  at  the  call  of  duty  in  the  revolutionary 
game,  at  which  he  was  a  mere  tyro,  a  somewhat 
ludicrous  one,  as  Diaz  thought.  He  is  reasonable 
where  his  personal  position  or  preferment  are  con- 
cerned. He  would  like  to  take  a  back  seat  and  spend 
his  days  in  his  library,  but  once  you  trench  upon  his 
ideals  the  little  man  is  adamant,  as  Mexican  politicians 
are  finding  out  every  day  to  their  sorrow  and  discon- 
tent. Madero  may  fall,  but  he  will  fall  with  clean 
hands,  and  having  kept  faith  with  his  ideals. 

There  are,  however,  men  in  Mexico  quite  as  patri- 
otic as  Madero,  and  no  more  corrupted  by  politics 
than  he,  who  look  upon  the  vacillating  course  of  the 
provisional  government,  and  the  development  of  the 
Madero  policies  with  misgivings  which  they  no  longer 
attempt  to  conceal.  It  is  an  undeniable  advantage 
that  now  at  last  an  authoritative  voice  has  made  itself 
heard  above  the  tumult  of  discussion  and  recrimination. 

As  much  as,  and  perhaps  more  than,  any  other  man 
outside  of  the  Madero  family,  Don  Jose  Vasconcelos 
contributed  to  the  success  of  the  revolution.  His  pop- 
ularity is  undoubted  and  deserved,  and  the  open  letter 
in  which,  after  two  months'  trial,  he  takes  the  provi- 
sional government  to  task,  created  an  immense  sen- 
sation in  Mexico.  Vasconcelos  regrets  the  imprison- 
ment of  several  revolutionary  leaders.     While  admit- 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  313 

ting  that  they  had  committed  technical  offences,  he  as- 
serts that  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  had  better,  much 
better,  have  been  first  extended  in  quite  another  direc- 
tion. He  calls  upon  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  to 
arrest  and  bring  to  speedy  trial  the  former  Governor 
of  Puebla,  whom  he  describes  as  "  the  murderer  of 
Serdan,  the  tool  of  Diaz,  a  bushwhacker  on  the  public 
roads,  and  an  embezzler  of  public  funds." 

He  asserts  that  the  recent  tragic  occurrences  in 
Puebla  are  repetitions  of  things  that  happened  under 
the  misrule  of  the  despot,  which  he  characterises  as 
having  been  the  most  bloody  and  bloodthirsty  regime 
in  history.  He  regrets  that  even  to-day  the  same 
threadbare  pretexts  are  advanced  to  justify  what  he 
regards  as  unprovoked  slaughter.  He  sees  on  every 
side  the  same  methods  and  the  same  men  as  before 
the  revolution.  He  demands  the  arrest  and  trial  of 
Colonel  Blanquet,  who  was  in  command  of  Puebla, 
and  is  a  Porfirista.  He  claims  that  people  will  not 
believe  in  the  justice  of  the  revolutionary  cause  so  long 
as  men  like  Blanquet  and  Luque  wear  the  uniform  of 
general.  "  We  recognise,"  continues  Vasconcelos, 
"  the  honesty  of  your  purpose  and  the  purity  of  your 
intentions."  The  letter,  though  published  in  all  the 
papers,  is  addressed  to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior, 
Dr.  Emilio  Vasquez  Gomez.  "  But,  Mr.  Minister, 
your  friends,  your  admirers,  and  your  fellow-citizens 
have  seen  your  arm  tremble.  You  have  shown  that 
you  lack  the  holy  wrath  of  the  Redeemed.  You  have 
demonstrated  that  you  cannot  dispense  the  bolt-like 
justice  which  strikes  terror  to  the  evil-doer,  nor  yet  the 
consuming  fire  of  Jehovah  which  cuts  down  and 
purifies.     You  have  been  inexorable  in  the  punishment 


314        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

of  several  of  our  generous  leaders,  who,  it  would  ap- 
pear, have  violated  legal  formalities.  Still,  they 
meted  out  substantial  punishment  to  the  evil-doers,  and 
provided  that  effective  justice  which  the  people  de- 
mand. It  is  the  deplorable  situation  to-day  that  our 
noble  leaders  are  imprisoned,  while  so  many  of  the  im- 
mensely guilty  are  at  liberty  to  conspire,  and  are  con- 
spiring, against  the  revolution.  Mr.  Minister:  the 
oppressed  and  the  expropriated,  who  thought  they  had 
come  into  their  own  again,  do  not  care  to  listen  to  all 
this  talk  of  legal  formalities,  because  they  know  that  it 
was  behind  the  shield  of  these  very  laws  that  Don  Por- 
firio  committed  his  countless  atrocities.  Our  people 
know  full  well  the  cynical  impudence  with  which  the 
little  lawyer  politicians  of  Mexico  and  Central  Amer- 
ica justify  by  law  all  manner  of  infamous  actions. 

"  The  people  of  Mexico  do  not  think  this  a  fitting 
moment  to  discuss  questions  of  international  law,  but 
they  call  upon  you  to  do  frank  justice  even  in  defiance 
of  the  law,  should  such  a  course  be  necessary. 

"  When  our  laws  are  such  and  when  our  institutions 
■  have  their  origin  in  the  polluted  well  of  the  Porfirista 
regime,  it  becomes  the  duty  to  spurn  them,  to  trample 
them  under  foot.  A  certain  section  of  the  press  is 
calling  for  the  union  of  all  Mexicans,  and  claims  to  be 
interpreting  your  policy,  but  you  should  remember  that 
before  the  desired  union  can  be  brought  about,  a  cer- 
tain policy  of  selection  has  to  be  realised.  It  cer- 
tainly can  be  said  without  injustice  and  without  passion 
that  union  with  those  who  deserve  the  gallows  or  at 
least  the  prison,  is  neither  honourable  nor  possible. 
You  should  not  interpret  this  patriotic  desire  for  union 
as  meaning  reconciliation  with  Martinism  or  with  any 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  315 

of  the  despicable  factions  of  Porfiriolsm.  The  coun- 
try merely  wants  the  union  of  all  healthy  elements  and 
useful  factors  among  our  citizens,  whether  they  be  lib- 
erals or  Catholics,  ex-Porfiristas  and  Cientificos  (if 
there  are  any  good  ones) — in  a  word,  the  union  of  all 
men  of  good  faith  without  distinction  of  opinions,  but 
always  with  the  rigid  exclusion  of  those  who  have  com- 
mitted punishable  deeds  which  still  cry  out  for  justice." 

This  letter  is  undoubtedly  the  most  illuminating 
document  that  has  come  out  of  Mexico  since  the  en- 
forced resignation  of  President  Diaz.  It  is  valuable 
as  much  for  the  frame  of  mind  it  reveals  as  from  the 
statement  of  facts,  as  seen  at  least  by  one  distinguished 
leader  of  the  revolution,  which  it  contains.  Obviously 
the  complete  avoidance  of  reprisals  upon  the  agents  of 
Diaz  which  Madero  has  insisted  upon  has  not  given 
universal  satisfaction.  He  has  told  his  people  to  leave 
these  hangmen  and  executioners  of  Diaz'  decrees  to 
popular  contempt,  but  the  widows  and  the  orphans 
and  their  friends  cry  out  for  something  more,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  old  traditions  which  are  so  hard  to 
outlive. 

The  occasion  of  this  letter,  and  of  much  of  the  pop- 
ular excitement  which  has  followed  it,  was  the  clash  at 
Puebla  between  federal  soldiers  and  revolutionists 
which  resulted  in  the  death  of  many  score  of  the  latter 
and  of  their  sympathisers.  The  facts  are  not  quite 
plain  to  this  day,  but  it  would  appear  that  the  revolu- 
tionists of  Puebla,  who  were  early  in  the  field  and  are 
of  an  extremely  radical  type,  becoming  disgusted  with 
what  they  considered  the  irresolute  course  of  the  provi- 
sional government,  made  an  attack  on  the  penitentiary, 
which  was  successfully  resisted  by  regular  soldiers  un- 


3i6        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

der  the  command  of  Colonel  Blanquet,  who,  it  would 
seem,  was  a  favourite  of  Diaz.  Some  think,  that  the 
revolutionists  merely  intended  to  release  a  few  of  their 
former  comrades  in  duress  for  minor  offences;  by 
others  it  is  maintained  that  a  lynching  party  was 
planned.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  evident  that  Colonel 
Blanquet  only  did  his  duty  as  a  soldier,  and  that  he 
should  be  sustained  rather  than  cashiered  or  dismissed. 
It  is  also  clear,  however,  from  the  disturbances  which 
have  followed  and  the  bitter  feelings  which  the  shoot- 
ing has  aroused,  that  it  was  most  unwise  to  leave  a  Por- 
firista  colonel  and  a  garrison  of  the  defeated  regulars 
in  a  position  where  they  could  with  impunity,  and  un- 
doubtedly with  keen  enjoyment  did,  shoot  down  a  hun- 
dred of  their  conquerors,  perhaps  merely  intent  upon  a 
jail  delivery,  certainly  a  sympathetic  and  laudable  en- 
terprise in  the  eyes  of  many  Mexicans  at  this  moment, 
exasperated  by  the  slower  processes  of  law. 

One  result  of  the  shooting,  and  of  the  tempestuous 
letter  of  Vasconcelos,  given  in  part  above,  has  been  the 
retirement  of  Don  Emilio  Vasquez  Gomez  from  the 
Ministry  of  the  Interior.  Don  Emilio  is  a  brother  of 
Dr.  Francisco  Vasquez  Gomez,  who  was  often  charac- 
terised as  the  wheelhorse  of  the  revolution,  and  is  now 
Minister  of  Education.  The  retirement  of  Don 
Emilio,  who  lacked  ministerial  qualities,  has  been 
made  the  occasion  of  a  general  examination  into  and 
report  upon  revolutionary  progress  as  it  goes  on  be- 
hind the  thin  veil  of  the  provisional  regime. 

On  the  credit  side  of  the  ledger  several  very  satis- 
factory entries  have  been  made.  They  have  passed 
unnoticed  by  us,  and  are  even  in  danger  of  being  over- 
looked by  the  Mexicans  themselves.     Peaceable  elec- 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  317 

tlons  have  been  held  in  the  States  of  Campeche  and 
Queretaro.  In  both  the  Madero  party  has  triumphed, 
and,  what  is  more  significant,  the  defeated  partisans 
are  loud  in  their  praise  of  the  fairness  with  which  the 
first  real  elections  in  Mexico  were  held.  The  victory 
of  the  Liberals  and  the  Progressives  in  Queretaro  is 
an  especial  subject  of  congratulation,  because  it  is  ad- 
mitted on  all  sides  that  this  State  was  the  stronghold 
of  the  Church  party,  whose  organisation,  numbers, 
and  wealth  Diaz  always  held  up  as  a  warning  to  those 
few  of  his  followers  who  wished  him  to  modernize 
his  methods.  With  manhood  suffrage,  the  despot 
maintained,  the  Clericals  would  outvote  the  Liberals; 
so  he  had  his  police  do  all  the  voting,  and  remained 
in  power. 

In  Chihuahua,  where,  undoubtedly  owing  to  prox- 
imity to  the  United  States  and  to  the  fact  that  so  many 
of  its  inhabitants  have  sojourned  for  years  in  Texas, 
and  are  consequently  politically  more  efficient  than  the 
average  Mexican,  law  and  order  have  been  maintained, 
the  administration  completely  remodelled,  and  the 
forms  of  legal  procedure  simplified.  Several  of  the 
great  territorial  lords  have  been  brought  to  court,  and 
will  have  to  stand  trial  on  charges  of  various  crimes 
and  misdemeanours,  the  popular  belief  in  the  truthful- 
ness of  which  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  active 
recruiting  agencies  of  the  revolution.  Strikes  are 
breaking  out  and  are  being  threatened  with  alarming 
frequency,  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten,  as  it  has 
been,  that  Madero  settled  the  most  important  strike 
that  the  country  has  ever  known,  that  of  the  street  rail- 
ways in  the  City  of  Mexico,  upon  terms  that  were  just 
and  honourable  to  both  parties.     It  must  have  been 


3i8        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

discouraging,  however,  for  the  Mexicans,  who  attach 
considerable  importance  to  American  press  opinion,  to 
read  in  a  great  New  York  paper  recently  a  lament  for 
the  Diaz  regime,  under  which  strikes  never  occurred. 
The  Mexicans  at  least  have  not  forgotten  the  bar- 
barous shooting  down  of  strikers  under  Diaz'  orders 
at  Rio  Blanco  and  Cananea,  and  they  recognize  that 
these  arbitrary  and  bloodthirsty  actions  were  one  of 
the  most  potent  causes  of  the  revolution. 

Undeniably  the  present  is  full  of  difficulties,  and  the 
future  is  overhung  with  clouds,  some  of  them  pretty 
dark  ones.  A  people  who  have  been  politically 
gagged  and  strait-jacketed  are  suddenly  called  upon  to 
live  and  let  live  under  the  freest  institutions.  It  is  a 
tremendous  ordeal  which  chance  or  destiny  has  im- 
posed. It  would  be  something  revolutionary  in 
revolutions  if  set-backs  were  not  frequent.  There  are, 
however,  rainbows  of  promise,  too,  which  I,  perhaps, 
am  inclined  to  over-emphasise,  seeing,  as  I  do,  that 
the  darker  side  of  the  picture  is  more  frequently  drawn 
— perhaps  I  am  justified  in  saying  overdrawn — in  the 
American  press.  One  of  the  most  hopeful  features  is 
the  fact  that  in  Mexico  there  does  not  exist  the  abyss 
between  the  energetic  peon  class  and  the  highly  edu- 
cated classes  which  is  a  characteristic  of  so  many  Latin- 
American  States.  A  remarkable  demonstration  of 
this  fraternity  was  given  on  the  24th  and  25th  of 
May,  when  the  populace  of  the  City  of  Mexico,  ex- 
asperated by  the  double-dealing  and  tergiversations  of 
President  Diaz'  lieutenants,  took  possession  of  the 
City  of  Mexico,  no  one  opposing,  and  were,  there  can 
be  no  denial,  on  the  point  of  murdering  the  stubborn 
despot  and  reducing  his  city  to  a  heap  of  ashes.     The 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  319 

students,  the  young  officers,  school-teachers,  men  and 
women,  joined  themselves  with  the  charging  mobs  and 
turned  what  promised  to  be  a  day  of  disaster  into  a 
day  of  honour  for  Mexican  democracy.  There  must 
be  hope  for  a  people  who,  when  exasperated  beyond 
measure  and  in  full  control,  can  listen  to  the  voice  of 
reason,  extinguish  their  torches,  lay  down  their 
bludgeons,  and  sheath  their  knives.  From  that  hour 
I  was  converted  to  the  belief  that,  though  with  many 
painful  incidents  and  disheartening  vicissitudes,  the 
Mexican  people  will  yet  work  out  their  salvation,  and 
have  by  their  many  sacrifices  at  least  earned  the  right 
to  try. 

Another  and  even  more  hopeful  sign  is  the  whole- 
souled  love  and  appreciation  of  education  which  is  the 
characteristic  of  all  Mexicans,  and  is  particularly 
strong  in  the  lower  or  less  fortunate  classes.  This 
thirst  for  knowledge  is  quite  as  strong  in  Mexico  to- 
day as  it  was  in  the  Japan  of  a  generation  ago.  While 
the  Mexican  may  not  have  the  rare  persistence  of  the 
Japanese  peasant,  who  is  ever  willing  to  starve  his 
body  to  feed  his  mind,  the  peon  has  certainly  a  quicker 
intelligence  and  greater  aptitudes.  The  Mexicans 
have  much  affinity  with  the  Japanese,  and  an  under- 
standing of  and  sympathy  for  them  which  is  proved  up 
to  the  hilt  whenever  the  two  peoples  come  into  con- 
tact. "  Why,  these  are  not  foreigners,  these  are  our 
own  people,"  shouted  the  peons,  as,  during  the  recent 
celebrations,  the  Japanese  marines  and  blue-jackets 
marched  through  their  streets.  Some  think,  of  course, 
that  the  Mexican  peon  is  not  of  such  stern  stuff  as  is  his 
cousin  from  the  rising  sun.  Time  alone,  however,  can 
prove  or  disprove  this. 


320        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

But  there  is  an  awakening  among  the  Mexicans,  a 
growing  appreciation  of  their  fortunate  situation. 
They  are  beginning  to  recognise  that  they  are  pos- 
sessed of  one  of  the  most  desirable  and  potentially 
rich  countries  of  the  world.  They  have  seen  the 
wealth  of  their  country  unlocked  and  converted  into 
comfort,  well-being,  and  education  and  other  desirable 
things  by  the  stranger  that  is  within  their  gates,  and 
they  would  follow  his  example.  They  recognise  that 
their  greatest  need  is  education,  and  when  Dr.  Fran- 
cisco Vasquez  Gomez,  the  first  of  the  revolutionary 
leaders  to  return  to  the  capital,  told  the  hundred  thou- 
sand people  who  waited  his  coming  for  many  hours, 
though  half-clad,  and  in  a  chilling  rain,  "  We  will  build 
schools,  and  we  will  build  roads.  Every  road  will 
lead  to  a  school,  out  of  every  school  a  road  will  lead 
to  higher  things.  We  have  nothing  to  fear  in  Mexico 
but  ignorance,  and  that,  if  we  work  together,  we  will 
annihilate,"  the  people  cheered  and  cried,  cried  and 
cheered.  When  I  asked  an  American  with  large  and 
varied  business  affairs  in  the  republic  who  in  war  and 
peace  could  always  keep  his  people  at  work,  scattered 
as  they  were  throughout  the  country,  and  without  close 
supervision,  how  he  did  it,  he  answered:  "This  is  all 
my  secret.  Whenever  a  man  is  the  least  bit  promising, 
I  put  his  children  to  school.  If  necessary,  we  clothe 
the  children,  arrange  the  dreadful  formalities.  It  only 
costs  a  little  money  and  a  little  time,  but  it  is  a  won- 
derful investment.  I  should  hate  to  tell  you  what  a 
percentage  it  pays  me.  The  father  and  mother  are 
remade,  and  the  whole  family  is  bound  to  the  job  by 
ties  which  are  stronger  than  bonds  of  steel." 

I  myself  have  seen  a  patient  woman  fishing  out  her 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  321 

befuddled  husband  and  lord  from  the  stupid  herd  out- 
side a  pulque-shop,  that  curse  of  Mexico  which,  unless 
controlled,  or,  better  still,  eradicated,  will  blight  the 
fair  promise  of  the  land,  and,  while  picking  out  her 
particular  unfortunate,  I  heard  her  say,  "  Dionysio, 
how  can  you  do  this  thing,  you  who  are  the  father  of 
children  who  are  learning  to  read?  "  And  Dionysio, 
though  befuddled,  seemed  ashamed  and  made  visible 
efforts  to  pull  himself  together.  To-day  in  Mexico,  if 
only  the  great  majority  would  ever  bear  in  mind  that 
they  are  the  fathers  of  children  who,  under  favourable 
auspices,  may  learn  to  read  and  run  the  race  of  life 
along  a  higher  course,  all  the  handicaps  of  heredity 
and  of  environment  will  weigh  as  nothing.  Mexico 
will  get  on  its  feet  again,  and  will  stand  alone,  to  its 
lasting  advantage  and  ours. 

When  Diaz  ruled  our  sister  republic,  in  name  at 
least,  an  election  was  a  negligible  affair;  it  was  at 
best,  or  at  worst,  a  chore  of  the  police,  who  set  out 
the  boxes  and  stuffed  in  the  ballots,  and  the  result  was 
the  concern  of  the  local  jefe  politico,  who  announced 
the  desired  result  without  opening  the  boxes  or  count- 
ing the  ballots. 

All  this  was,  of  course,  in  open  defiance  of  the  con- 
stitution, which  safeguarded  manhood  suffrage,  and 
of  the  laws,  which  were  drawn  up  at  least  with  the 
purpose  of  ensuring  fair  elections.  The  laws,  how- 
ever, were  drawn  years  ago,  when  the  men  in  power 
thought  that  the  people  of  Mexico  could  and  should  be 
trusted,  and  were  entitled  to  be  consulted  at  least  in 
regard  to  the  legislation  under  which  they  needs  must 
live. 

The  first  and  most  important  result  of  the  revolu- 


322        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

tion  is  that  the  people  have  passed  from  a  regime  of 
absolute  tyranny  to  one  of  almost  unlimited  freedom, 
a  startling  transition  which  would  be  trying  to  any 
people,  and  will  prove  especially  so  to  the  Mexicans, 
who,  to  put  it  mildly,  have  not  iced  water  in  their  veins, 
and  who  have  a  decided  foible  for  the  convulsivo  style 
of  oratory.  It  is  a  plunge  that  cannot  be  made  with- 
out some  splashing.  For  thirty  years,  instead  of  lead- 
ing his  people,  in  leading-strings  if  it  had  been  neces- 
sary, along  the  path  of  political  development,  Diaz 
robbed  them,  one  by  one,  of  the  few  meagre  privileges 
of  which  he  found  them  possessed  when  he  rode  into 
power,  and  now, — it  is  more  like  an  occurrence  in  a 
fairy-tale  than  in  real  life, — all  these  long-withheld 
privileges,  and  all  these  long-unexperienced  responsi- 
bilities are  suddenly  thrust  upon  shoulders  which  are 
as  willing  as  they  are  unprepared  to  receive  them. 

Of  course,  the  dangers  of  the  situation  are  obvious, 
and  none  of  them,  I  can  say  with  authority,  have 
escaped  the  eyes  of  Madero,  dreamer  though  he  is  rep- 
resented to  be  by  those  who  have  not  come  in  contact 
with  him,  or  who,  for  some  reason  or  other,  not 
rarely  a  business  reason,  have  failed  to  recognise  the 
consummate  skill  with  which  the  chief  of  the  revolu- 
tion and  of  the  pacification  has  steered  his  meteoric 
course  in  the  last  twelve  months.  In  private,  Madero 
admits  that  he  has  moments  of  anxiety,  that  he  bit- 
terly regrets  that  his  people  have  not  been  favoured 
with  a  political  apprenticeship  of  however  short  dura- 
tion; still,  the  moments  of  anxiety  give  place  very 
quickly  to  renewed  feelings  of  confidence.  "  I  trusted 
my  people  in  war,"  he  says,  "  with  wife  and  children, 
with  my  life,  and  my  fortune.     They  did  not  fail  me, 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  323 

or,  rather,  our  common  cause,  so  I  cannot  bring  my- 
self to  mistrust  them  In  peace.  I  believe  my  people, 
who  have  shown  such  patriotism  in  long-suffering,  will 
not  be  slow  to  learn  the  elementary  lessons  of  democ- 
racy. They  wielded  the  sword  bravely  and  honestly; 
why  should  they  not  do  the  same  with  the  ballot?  " 

However,  the  first  six  months  of  the  Madero  admin- 
istration have  not  been  very  successful,  and,  wherever 
our  sympathies  and  hopes  may  lie,  we  must  admit  that 
the  outlook  is  not  particularly  reassuring.  There  are 
several  civil  wars  in  progress,  and  the  forces  with 
which  the  malcontents  are  seeking  to  overthrow  the 
regime  of  law  and  order  are,  perhaps,  more  formidable 
and  better  armed  than  the  troops  with  which  Diaz 
sought  to  defend  his  tyranny. 

There  are  certainly  many  evidences  of  a  counter- 
revolution being  planned  by  partisans  of  the  old  regime. 
There  is  noticeable  some  discontent  among  a  certain 
group  of  the  revolutionists,  who  had  expected  miracles, 
and  not  a  few  of  Madero's  warmest  and  most  helpful 
friends  have  grown,  shall  we  only  say  lukewarm?  in 
their  services  to  the  cause.  It  also  cannot  be  denied 
that  some  of  Madero's  rivals  for  the  chief  power  have 
greater  means  than  he  at  their  disposal,  and  fewer 
formidable  foes;  again,  they  are  undoubtedly  more  ex- 
perienced in  handling  the  kind  of  men  who  count  twice 
in  elections  than  the  student  of  Coahuila,  who,  how- 
ever, while  not  ignoring  the  obstacles  that  lie  in  his 
path,  quietly  asserts  that  he  is  confident  of  the  out- 
come. We  Americans  should  devoutly  hope  that  once 
again,  as  so  often  of  late,  when  Madero  has  apparently 
run  counter  to  the  wisdom  of  precedents,  and  of  ex- 
perience,  the   event  will  prove   his   wisdom   and   his 


324        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

course  well  considered,  for  to-day,  without  very  well 
knowing  it,  we  are  very  near  to  Mexico,  and  irresistible 
economic  forces  are  bringing  us  into  closer  relations 
with  our  neighbours  on  the  south  every  hour,  in  a 
way  that  would  seem  incredible  to  the  statesmen  and 
the  commercial  leaders  of  a  generation  ago.  South 
of  the  Rio  Grande  there  is  no  one  in  sight  who  prom- 
ises so  much  for  the  well-being  of  Mexico,  and,  con- 
sequently, for  ourselves,  as  does  the  little  civilian  with 
the  dreamy  eyes  and  the  student  stoop,  who  proved 
himself  more  able  and  more  honest  than  Diaz's 
mediaeval  soldiers  and  his  political  lieutenants,  trained 
to  every  trick  of  chicane. 

That  all  the  revolutionists  had  not  flocked  to  the 
standard  of  revolt,  which  Madero  had  the  courage  to 
raise,  at  a  time  when  many  of  his  best  friends  charac- 
terised the  act  as  one  of  insanity,  actuated  by  the  purest 
motives  of  patriotism,  goes  without  saying.  This 
was  a  revolution,  in  some  aspects,  like  many  another, 
and  it  is  generally  found  that  all  kinds  of  men  are 
represented  in  revolutionary  ranks.  Some  men  joined 
for  one  reason,  and  some  for  another,  but  I  think  it 
can  truthfully  be  said  that  Zapata,  now  "  General  " 
Zapata,  the  source  and  fountain  head  to-day  of  much 
trouble  in  the  states  of  Morelos  and  Guerero,  was  the 
most  casual  recruit  of  them  all. 

Zapata  was  a  cowboy,  a  rather  shiftless  one,  it  is 
said,  and  for  months  he  had  heard  of  the  revolution 
in  progress  on  the  northern  frontier  with  the  most 
complete  indifference.  In  a  competition  at  a  local  fair 
he  had  been  defeated  in  a  lasso-throwing  contest,  and 
was  very  much  dissatisfied  with  the  result.  To  show 
that  his  defeat  was  due  to  nervousness  or  bad  luck, 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  325 

and  to  impress  those  about  him  with  his  prowess, 
when  the  real  contest  was  over,  he  threw  his  lasso 
again,  and  brought  down  in  fine  style  a  passing  mule. 
Now,  unfortunately,  the  mule's  leg  was  broken  in  the 
fall,  and,  still  more  unfortunately,  it  belonged  to  a 
Spaniard,  who  did  not  see  the  joke;  in  fact,  the  Span- 
iard (he  has  paid  dearly  for  his  want  of  foresight 
since)  sent  in  a  whopping  big  bill  to  the  local  author- 
ities. Now,  trivial  little  incidents,  such  as  this,  are 
windfalls  to  the  Mexican  officials;  they  immediately 
tacked  on  their  percentages,  commissions,  hush  and 
good-will  money,  and  when  the  bill  reached  Zapata's 
lowly  shack  in  the  hands  of  a  bailiff,  it  had  assumed 
proportions  which  threatened  to  extinguish  the  thought- 
less young  cowboy,  financially  at  least. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  there  would  have 
been  no  alternative  but  to  pay  up  or  run  away,  taking 
with  him  what  money  he  could  get  together,  but,  un- 
fortunately, Mr.  Zapata  now  bethought  him  of  the 
revolution  in  the  north,  and  he  had  an  idea,  which,  in 
view  of  its  effects  upon  his  personal  fortunes,  may  al- 
most be  styled  an  inspiration.  He  knew  that  the  mass 
of  his  fellows  in  Guerrero  were  discontented,  and  that 
they  hated  the  federal  officials,  by  whom  they  were  op- 
pressed, so,  instead  of  running  away,  he  went  out  in 
the  woods  and  raised  the  standard  of  revolt.  Hun- 
dreds answered  his  call,  and  his  ranks  filled  much  more 
quickly  than  those  of  Figuerroa,  the  general  who  was 
recognised  as  the  leader  of  the  southern  revolutionary 
forces  by  Madero.  Figuerroa  tried  to  inflict  as  little 
damage  as  possible  upon  the  pacificos  and  non-com- 
batants, while  Zapata  made  free  with  other  people's 
property  in  a  way  that  was  far  beyond  what  the  exist- 


326        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

ing  circumstances  warranted.  His  was  a  free  and 
easy  camp,  and  his  following  increased  so  rapidly  that 
it  would  seem  beyond  doubt  that  his  line  of  revolu- 
tionary action  enjoyed  some  popular  favour  in  this 
part  of  the  Republic. 

Ten  weeks  later  Zapata  captured  Cuernavaca. 
There  were  thousands  behind  him,  obedient  to 
his  every  command.  There  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  his  corps,  which  was  generally  spoken 
of  as  the  "  Flying  Division,"  equalled,  if  it 
did  not  outnumber,  the  whole  Army  of  the  South. 
General  Figuerroa  probably  did  not  know  this  when 
he  caught  red-handed  and  summarily  executed  Tipepa, 
one  of  Zapata's  most  popular  lieutenants,  and  a  most 
enterprising  bandit.  The  two  wings  of  the  army  were 
at  daggers  drawn  for  weeks,  as  a  result  of  this  incident, 
and  many  were  killed  on  both  sides  in  what  was  called 
private  warfare.  There  was  no  telling  what  would 
happen;  almost  anything  might  have  happened,  when, 
suddenly,  Diaz'  stubborn  resistance  collapsed  in  the 
face  of  the  noisy  demonstrations  of  the  populace  in 
the  City  of  Mexico. 

For  a  moment,  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  victory,  it 
was  possible  for  Madero  to  patch  up  a  truce  between 
the  rival  chieftains  of  the  South.  Many  men  had 
gone  into  the  revolution  with  many  high  motives,  some 
had  gone  in  with  no  reason  whatever,  but  Zapata  could 
not  be  classed  with  either  of  these.  He  had  gone  into 
the  revolution  for  what  it  was  worth.  He  had  behind 
him  an  army  as  great  in  numbers  and  as  enthusiastic 
as  had  Diaz  when  he  first  achieved  the  Presidency. 
Under  the  circumstances  it  was  not  at  all  likely  that 
he  would  accept  a  commission  as  captain  in  the  rural 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  327 

guards,  as  a  reward  for  all  his  services,  and  if  he 
had  done  so,  his  followers  would  doubtless  have  ob- 
jected in  a  very  outspoken  and  energetic  way.  This 
was  the  situation  in  Morelos  the  day  the  provisional 
government  was  inaugurated  in  the  capital,  and  it  re- 
mains much  the  same  to-day,  only  a  little  more  com- 
plicated, and  its  dangerous  features  have  become 
chronic.  All  attempts  to  muster  out  Zapata's  men 
have  failed.  The  ex-cowboy  has  been  threatened  and 
cajoled.  A  few  men  at  a  time  have  been  disbanded, 
but  in  a  few  days  they  returned  to  the  colours.  When 
asked  to  turn  in  his  arms,  as  have  so  many  revolution- 
ary chieftains,  Zapata  declines  to  do  so,  always  re- 
spectfully and  regretfully. 

He  keeps  up  the  guise  of  obedience,  while  the  talk 
of  his  men  is  that  of  open  mutiny.  In  the  end  of 
August,  191 1,  the  condition  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try, doubly  serious  because  of  being  within  striking 
distance  of  the  capital,  became  such  a  national  scandal 
that  Madero  himself  was  importuned  to  proceed  to 
the  camp  of  the  stubborn  rebels,  and  he  was  authorised 
by  the  provisional  government  to  do  anything  in  rea- 
son to  satisfy  their  demands.  Zapata  received  the 
Chief  of  the  revolution  with  all  the  honours  of  war, 
but  his  boisterous  followers  filled  the  meeting-place 
with  cries  of  "  Long  live  Zapata !  and  death  to 
Madero!"  Madero  continued  his  tour  of  pacifica- 
tion with  characteristic  pluck.  In  this  wild  quarter  of 
the  country,  which  he  has  sought  so  unselfishly  to 
redeem,  he  seems  to  have  scored  his  first  defeat. 
Skirmishes  and  even  battles  are  being  fought  every 
day,  or  practically  so,  in  the  province  of  Morelos, 
which  are  quite  as  important  and  as  bloody  as  were 


328        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  conflicts  of  what  we  may  call  the  revolution 
proper. 

It  is  a  triangular  struggle  in  which  are  taking  part 
the  men  of  Figuerroa,  the  Zapatistas,  and  several  divi- 
sions of  the  federal  army  under  command  of  Generals 
Huerta  and  Blanquet.  The  federal  troops,  under 
orders  from  the  provisional  president,  are  making 
their  headquarters  in  Cuernavaca,  from  which  Zapata 
threatens  to  expel  them.  He  says,  with  perfect  truth, 
that  he  ran  General  Huerta  out  of  the  state  three 
months  ago,  and  he  asserts  that  he  can  do  it  again. 
It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  these  old  antagonists  should 
have  been  brought  into  such  sharp  opposition  so  soon 
again.  Huerta  was  so  identified  with  the  regime  of 
Diaz  that,  doubtless,  there  are  hundreds  of  men  in 
Zapata's  army  who  have  no  realisation  of  the  selfish 
projects  of  their  chief,  and  believe  in  all  honesty  that 
they  are  called  upon  to  fight  another  battle  in  the  cause 
of  liberty. 

Down  in  Yucatan,  that  limestone  peninsula  which 
President  Polk  so  ardently  coveted,  there  are  occurring 
every  day  disorders  of  an  entirely  different  character, 
but  equally  disquieting.  Here,  suddenly,  the  agrarian 
questions  and  those  relating  to  peonage  have  assumed 
a  very  acute  form.  The  spirit  of  '93  seems  to  have 
reached  Yucatan.  Wealthy  ranch  owners  are  being 
murdered  in  their  beds,  while  all  their  property  is 
consigned  to  destruction.  The  peons  have,  in  many 
districts,  fled  from  the  haciendas,  where  they  were  held 
to  servitude,  and,  combining  with  their  half-brothers, 
the  Maya  Indians,  have  installed  themselves  in  the 
rock  shelters  and  the  great  water  caves,  which  are  a 
curious    geological    characteristic    of    this    interesting 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  329 

country,  and  a  great  aid  to  revolutionary  movements. 

Labour  troubles  in  Yucatan  and,  indeed,  all  other 
disorders  here,  are  more  alarming  than  similar  occur- 
rences in  other  provinces,  because  of  the  distance  of 
this  outlying  state  from  the  metropolis,  and  because  of 
the  large,  indeed  overwhelming,  Indian  population. 
These  Indians,  apparently  peaceable,  have  shown  them- 
selves very  savage  and  very  truculent  when  once  their 
race  feeling  is  aroused,  as  it  seems  to  be  aroused  now. 
Then  there  is  the  separatista  tendency  of  a  large  frac- 
tion, if  not  of  a  majority,  of  the  people,  which  has 
shown  itself  on  so  many  occasions,  and  with  particular 
force  at  the  critical  moments  of  Mexican  history. 

To-day  the  great  hennequin  plantations  are  being 
deserted,  and  riots,  skirmishes,  and  incendiary  fires  are 
reported  from  every  direction.  The  great  weath  of 
the  state  is  invested  in  the  hennequin  industry,  and,  if 
the  agave  fields  remain  uncultivated,  as  they  are  now, 
the  country  will  become  uninhabitable.  The  result- 
ing damage  will  be  all  the  greater  and  more  wide- 
spread, because  these  estates  are,  for  the  most  part, 
mortgaged  up  to  what  was  their  full  value  in  pros- 
perous years. 

This  unhappy  state  of  affairs  is  an  indirect  and, 
certainly,  an  unforeseen  result  of  the  recent  revolu- 
tion. The  people  of  the  peninsula,  of  all  colours  and 
of  all  castes,  had  been  greatly  excited  by  the  high- 
handed acts  of  General  Molina,  Diaz'  last  Governor. 
Molina  was  a  distinguished  land-grabber,  a  most  cruel 
and  corrupt  administrator,  and  is  said  to  have  gotten 
together  a  comfortable  little  estate  of  twelve  million 
acres  during  his  term  of  office. 

In  opposing  this  man's  tyranny  and  exactions,  the 


330        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

people  had  followed  the  leadership  of  a  certain  Senor 
Moreno  Canton,  and  they  hoped  to  make  him  Gov- 
ernor when  Molina  fled,  as  he  did,  with  his  patron 
Diaz.  Madero  does  not  seem  to  have  been  well  ad- 
vised as  to  the  situation  in  this  section  of  the  country, 
and,  in  any  event,  one  of  his  first  steps  in  the  hour  of 
victory  was  to  send  to  the  peninsula  as  provisional 
governor  one  of  his  closest  followers,  Pino  Suarez. 
Pino  Suarez,  like  most  of  the  provisional  governors, 
aspired  to  a  more  prolonged  term  of  oflfice,  and  im- 
mediately upon  his  arrival  in  the  country,  set  every- 
thing in  motion  to  favour  his  candidacy  in  the  Fall 
elections.  Giving  a  striking  illustration  of  the  well- 
known  adage,  that  politics  make  strange  bedfellows, 
the  friends  of  Molina  and  Diaz  enlisted  under  the 
political  banner  of  their  conqueror  in  the  hope  of  rob- 
bing from  Moreno  Canton  his  election  to  the  post,  to 
which  the  majority  of  the  home-rule  people  of  Yucatan 
thought  he  was  entitled. 

The  political  struggle  entered  upon  in  this  wise  has 
been  bitter  and  disorderly,  perhaps  without  a  parallel 
in  Mexican  history.  Most  unwisely,  and  most  un- 
fortunately, the  peons  and  the  Indians  have  been 
drawn  into  the  strife.  Their  political  activity  is  show- 
ing itself  every  day  in  jungle  murders  and  in  the  firing 
of  the  haciendas.  The  guilty  are  never  brought  to 
justice,  and  the  most  hideous  crimes  are  apparently 
accepted  as  indispensable  adjuncts  of  the  new  and 
freer  era.  Perhaps  neither  of  the  candidates  for  the 
governorship  is  responsible  for  this  state  of  affairs, 
though  many  of  their  prominent  followers  are.  How- 
ever, it  must  be  admitted  that  neither  candidate  has 
been  successful  in  pouring  oil  on  the  troubled  waters. 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  331 

To  an  understanding  of  this  local  situation  it  must 
always  be  borne  in  mind  that  Yucatan  is  a  country  of 
vast  estates,  many  of  which  have  been  carved  out  of 
the  public  lands  by  corrupt  officials.  Besides  these 
great  landed  proprietors,  who  have  frequently  dispos- 
sessed the  real  owners  of  the  land,  there  are  only  the 
peons,  thousands  and  thousands  of  peons  living  in  want 
and  misery,  and  under  the  lash,  in  fear  of  their  lives 
from  cruel  taskmasters,  whose  verified  methods  make 
Mr.  Turner's  stories  from  "  Barbarous  Mexico  "  seem 
rather  milk-and-water  affairs. 

As  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  summary,  the 
local  situation  was  grave  enough  without  outside  in- 
terference. Unfortunately,  however,  every  steamer 
from  Mexico  has  brought  a  flock  of  "  libertarios,"  self- 
styled  priests  of  liberty,  who  defy  and  denounce  all 
the  parties  who  seek  their  ends  by  legal  means.  While 
most  of  these  are  free  lances,  selfish  fishers  in  troubled 
waters,  some  of  them  are  followers  of  the  so-called 
socialist,  Flores  Magon.  These  men  are  inflaming 
the  minds  of  the  peons  with  their  talk  of  popular  gov- 
ernment, from  which  the  proprietor  class  will  be  ex- 
cluded, and  of  an  equal  division  of  all  land,  in  which, 
however,  the  present  proprietors  will  not  be  allowed 
to  participate.  Here,  in  Yucatan  at  least,  people  are 
beginning  to  regret  the  Diaz  regime.  Many  think 
that  the  campaign  for  self-government  is  degenerat- 
ing into  a  hand-to-hand  struggle  for  existence.  Over 
the  whole  country  hang  memories  of  that  servile  up- 
rising in  1847,  known  in  the  history  of  Mexico  as  the 
"  war  of  castes,"  which  was  heralded  by  much  the 
same  incidents  of  lawlessness  as  are  now  occurring 
every  day  throughout  the  peninsula.     Then  the   In- 


332        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

dians  went  from  house  to  house,  and  at  every  ranch 
they  were  joined  by  the  peons.  It  was  a  war  of  fire 
and  sword  that  knew  no  quarter.  When  the  Mexican 
troops  came,  the  peninsula  was  in  ashes,  and,  had  they 
not  come,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
white  man  would  have  been  exterminated  or  disap- 
peared from  these  fertile  regions,  and,  of  course,  to- 
day it  is  recognised  that  Mexico  could  not  send  enough 
troops  into  this  district  to  cope  with  the  unsubdued 
Indian  tribes,  once  the  peons  and  the  pacific  Indians  had 
made  common  cause  with  them. 

There  are  other  and  equally  disturbing  factors  at 
work  in  other  sections  of  the  country,  some  of  which  I 
will  briefly  enumerate.  In  Sinaloa,  Juan  Banderas, 
who,  whatever  he  may  be,  certainly  talks  and  acts  like 
a  bandit,  has  interfered  with  the  authorised  elections, 
and,  by  an  overwhelming  show  of  force,  has  forced 
the  legislature  of  the  state  to  name  him  as  provisional 
governor.  Summoned  to  the  City  of  Mexico  to  an- 
swer to  the  charge  of  rebellion,  which  has  been  pre- 
ferred against  him,  Banderas  refuses  to  come,  and  is 
apparently  recruiting  a  large  force  for  no  peaceable 
purpose. 

In  Quintano  Roo  there  is  also  trouble.  General 
Ignacio  Bravo  for  some  time  has  been  the  Jefe  Politico 
of  this  insalubrious  region,  not  entirely  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  people  whose  affairs  he  administered.  Re- 
cently, under  orders  from  the  President,  General 
Bravo  came  to  the  capital.  After  a  few  days'  stay  in 
Mexico  City,  however,  Bravo  was  satisfied  that  the 
charges  against  him  would  be  sustained,  and  fled  sur- 
reptitiously to  his  former  seat  of  government.  Here 
he  has  assembled  a  large  force,  and  commands  the  situ- 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  333 

ation,  while  his  successor  shows  no  inclination  to  pro- 
ceed to  his  post  without  the  support  of  a  small  army, 
which  the  administration  cannot  think  of  furnishing, 
when  every  available  man  may  at  any  moment  be  re- 
quired for  the  defence  of  the  national  capital. 

Lower  California,  that  Naboth's  vineyard  for  so 
many  of  our  citizens,  as  well  as  for  the  Japanese,  at 
least  as  some  alarmists  would  have  us  believe,  is  in  a 
very  lawless  condition,  which  we  would  be  inclined 
to  criticise  more  severely,  had  not  Californians  taken 
such  a  prominent  part,  if  not  in  provoking  the  law- 
lessness, at  least  giving  the  agents  of  rebellion  and 
sedition  all  the  encouragement  and  assistance  within 
their  power.  The  federal  troops  have  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  occupying  Calexico  and  Tijuana,  but  they  cer- 
tainly have  not  even  the  mere  military  control  of  the 
situation.  Try  to  forget  it,  or  look  the  other  way, 
as  we  will,  sooner  or  later  the  United  States  will  have 
to  face  the  question  which  Lower  California  presents 
to-day.  On  one  side  of  an  imaginary  line  there  is  a 
crowded  population,  and  land  held  at  five  hundred  dol- 
lars an  acre;  on  the  other  side  there  is  no  population, 
probably  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand  people  oc- 
cupying a  country  more  than  three  times  as  large  as 
New  York,  and  as  rich,  or  as  capable  of  improve- 
ment by  irrigation  as  land  on  the  American  side  of 
the  line,  and  all  for  five  cents  an  acre  or  less.  No 
wonder  the  "  boomers "  of  San  Diego  had  to  be 
held  back  by  armed  force  from  taking  possession 
of  this  Eden  while  the  Mexican  Government 
was  without  means  to  protect  this  boundary,  robbed 
of  its  troops  to  meet  the  situation  at  Juarez  and 
along  the  Arizona  frontier.     The  force  which  Presi- 


334        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

dent  Taft  had  mobilized  at  San  Antonio  to  main- 
tain our  neutrality  was  more  in  the  public  eye,  but  the 
troops  under  General  Bliss,  along  the  Californian  line, 
had  equally  arduous  duties  to  perform  in  pushing  back 
the  farmers  on  the  move,  who  come  of  a  race  that  has 
always  believed  that  all  land  that  "  jines  his  is  hisen," 
or,  at  all  events,  is  extremely  likely  to  come  into  his 
possession. 

Don  Francisco  De  la  Barra,  until  recently  the  pro- 
visional president  of  the  republic,  only  emerged  from 
the  relative  obscurity  of  the  diplomatic  service  a  few 
months  ago.  Whatever  may  be  his  guerdon,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  this  gentleman  has  deserved  well  of  his 
country  and  of  his  country's  neighbours.  He  was  in 
Washington  as  Ambassador  when  the  Madero  revolu- 
tion began  to  assume  serious  proportions,  and  by  his 
straightforward  conduct  in  certain  negotiations,  which 
he  was  authorised  to  carry  on  with  Dr.  Vasquez 
Gomez,  their  envoy,  De  la  Barra  won  the  respect 
and  the  confidence  of  the  revolutionists.  Shortly  after 
this  he  was  recalled  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  entered 
the  cabinet  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  As  such 
he  sent  a  perfectly  unjustifiable  note  to  Washington 
in  answer  to  President  Taft's  representations  concern- 
ing the  killing  of  Americans  along  the  border.  He 
also  issued  a  circular  to  the  Mexican  diplomatic  repre- 
sentatives abroad,  regarding  our  attitude  on  the 
frontier,  which,  having  become  public  through  an  in- 
discretion of  the  Mexican  representative  in  the  Argen- 
tine, gave  great  offence  in  Washington.  Upon  repre- 
sentations being  made,  in  so  far  as  they  were  offensive 
and  unjustifiable  these  documents  were  withdrawn. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  at  this  crisis.  General 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  335 

Diaz,  or  some  of  his  most  influential  advisers,  regarded 
a  conflict  with  the  United  States  as  a  possible  solution 
of  their  internal  troubles,  and  that  De  la  Barra  was 
ordered  to  act  accordingly.  However,  this  plan  came 
to  nothing,  owing  to  the  swift  advance  of  the  revolu- 
tion, the  patience  that  was  shown  in  Washington,  and 
the  self-control  of  our  border  population.  When  Diaz 
fell,  and  the  Vice-President,  Corral,  resigned,  De  la 
Barra,  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  became  presi- 
dent ad  interim,  and  a  few  days  later  was  sworn  in 
as  provisional  president  with  all  due  solemnity.  It 
was  a  terribly  responsible  duty  that,  in  this  way,  de- 
volved upon  a  man  who  had  been  absent  from  his 
country  for  ten  years.  The  Diaz  legend  had  col- 
lapsed, and  of  it  all  there  remained  only  a  few  fugi- 
tives, who,  more  or  less  disguised,  were  hastening  out 
of  the  country.  The  leaders  of  the  revolution  and 
its  most  trusted  and  influential  adherents  were  far 
away  in  the  North.  It  seemed  for  a  moment  as  if 
nothing  could  save  the  capital  and  other  important 
cities  from  being  sacked  and  burned  by  the  various 
robber  bands,  who  were  lurking  on  their  outskirts, 
awaiting  just  such  an  opportunity. 

De  la  Barra's  task  was  to  maintain  law  and  order, 
and,  with  a  cabinet  whose  members  were  practically 
selected  by  Madero,  and  not  by  himself,  to  govern  the 
country  until  the  people  could  be  consulted  as  to  their 
wishes  at  an  election,  which  the  constitution  required 
should  be  held  this  Fall.  De  la  Barra  had  one  known 
qualification,  though  others  soon  developed,  for  his 
difficult  post.  He  was  absolutely  without  political  ties 
or  preferences.  He  recognised  fully  the  danger  of 
the  crisis  which  was  upon  the  country,  and  it  can  be 


336        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

said  that  he  acted  as  a  patriot  throughout  his  long 
ordeal.  In  taking  the  oath  of  office,  the  provisional 
president  announced  that  he  would  not,  under  any 
circumstances,  allow  his  name  to  go  before  the  people 
as  a  candidate  in  the  Fall  elections.  The  Catholic 
party  met  in  convention  at  the  end  of  August,  191 1, 
nominated  De  la  Barra  for  the  presidency  by  acclama- 
tion, but  they  found  him  still  obdurate. 

It  was  no  empty  honour  that  the  provisional  presi- 
dent declined.  The  Catholic  party  In  Mexico,  as  it 
stands  to-day,  Is  divested  of  many,  if  not  of  all,  the 
reactionary  tendencies  which  characterised  It  In  the 
days  of  Juarez  and  the  war  of  the  Reform.  Alarmed 
at  the  plans  which  the  Radicals  In  the  Madero  party 
have  promulgated,  and  fearful  of  a  continuance  of 
revolutionary  conditions,  many  conservative  Liberals 
would  gladly  have  voted  the  Catholic  ticket,  headed  by 
a  man  who  had  saved  the  situation  by  strictly  enforcing 
the  law,  In  so  far  as  he  had  the  power,  without  fear  or 
favour.  It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  a  man  who  has 
displayed  the  energy  and  ability  that  De  la  Barra  has, 
should  not  be  retained  In  some  important  office  for  the 
present.  In  consequence,  Madero  won  the  October 
elections  by  an  overwhelming  vote.  Unfortunately 
the  result  for  the  vice-presidency  was  not  so  decisive. 

Unable  to  secure  the  standard-bearer  of  their  choice, 
the  Catholic  party,  assembled  In  convention,  acted  with 
patriotism  and  with  considerable  political  acumen. 
Forgetting  all  their  personal  grievances,  and  recognis- 
ing only  that  he  was  then  the  one  man  left  who  can 
save  the  country  from  prolonged  civil  war  and  anarchy, 
the  Catholic  leaders  offered  the  nomination  to  Madero, 
the  chief  of  the  revolution,  and  he  accepted  It. 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  337 

It  is  difficult  to  present  Reyes,  until  recently  a  factor 
In  the  situation,  to  the  American  people.  Our  press 
has  an  idea,  which  apparently  cannot  be  eradicated, 
that  Reyes  is  a  beau  sabreur,  the  idol  of  the  army,  a 
possible  man  on  horseback.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
Reyes  is  sixty-seven  years  of  age,  and  rather  feeble 
for  his  years.  He  would,  doubtless,  prefer  to  with- 
draw from  the  arena  altogether,  but  is  kept  before  the 
public  by  the  energy  of  his  ambitious  son.  If  you 
catechised  a  Mexican,  he  would  tell  you  that  Reyes  rep- 
resents the  Reyista  party,  and  that  the  Reyista  party 
is  a  reflection  of  General  Reyes'  manifold  virtues.  The 
danger  of  his  candidacy  is,  of  course,  that  it  offers  a 
standard  to  which,  without  avowing  their  purpose, 
many  groups  of  Mexican  politicians  who  are  opposed 
to  popular  government  and  representative  institutions, 
can  repair.  That  Reyes  is  really  a  weak,  though  well- 
meaning,  man,  appears  from  his  political  and  military 
antecedents.  His  admirers  talk  much  of  the  Tepic 
war  and  the  revolution  in  Mazatlan,  in  which  are  com- 
prised all  his  military  services.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
during  these  so-called  campaigns,  General  Reyes  did 
not  command  more  men,  and  had  no  more  chance  to 
show  military  ability,  than  has  a  New  York  captain  of 
police  when  his  reserves  are  called  out  to  quell  a 
riot. 

As  Governor  of  New  Leon,  Reyes  became  quite  pop- 
ular by  opposing  the  exactions  of  the  territorial  lords 
and  caciques  of  that  state,  and  by  not  falling  in  alto- 
gether with  the  "  business  methods  "  of  the  Cientifico 
group,  who,  with  Diaz'  acquiescence,  if  not  with  his 
connivance,  were  exploiting  the  country.  Reyes  was 
the  only  man,  outside  of  the  ruling  Brahmins,  who  had 


338        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

attracted  popular  favour,  and  it  was  natural  that  he, 
or,  rather,  his  name,  should  be  pushed  forward  as  the 
emblem  of  that  opposition  to  the  Diaz  dynasty  which 
was  then  beginning  to  crystallise.  Shortly  after  reach- 
ing greater  prominence  in  this  way,  Reyes  was  re- 
moved from  his  governorship,  Diaz  making  a  great 
show  of  force,  as  though  he  had  reason  to  expect  that 
Reyes  would  "  pronounce,"  and  raise  the  standard  of 
revolt.  However,  the  general  retired  very  quietly  to 
his  ranch  and  remained  there,  certainly  under  surveil- 
lance, if  not  as  a  prisoner,  until  the  time  came  when 
nominations  were  in  order  for  the  presidential  elec- 
tion of  1910. 

The  Cientificos  wished  Senor  Limantour,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  nominated  for  the  vice-presidency. 
Diaz  would  have  preferred  to  present  Reyes'  name 
for  the  post.  He  did  not  care  especially  for  Reyes, 
but  he  wished  to  stem  the  growing  unpopularity  of  his 
prolonged  administration.  However,  he  did  not  have 
the  courage  to  press  his  point,  and  finally  a  third  man, 
neither  a  Reyista  nor  a  Cientifico,  was  selected,  the 
unfortunate  Don  Ramon  Corral,  who  immediately  be- 
came the  scapegoat  of  the  administration  and  the  bug- 
bear of  both  disappointed  parties. 

It  is  certain  that  at  this  time  many  Reyistas  wished 
their  general  to  attempt  a  state  stroke.  They  urged 
him  to  call  his  followers  together,  and  march  upon  the 
capital.  Don  Bernardo,  however,  maintains  that  he 
never  had  the  most  remote  idea  of  taking  up  arms 
against  the  lawfully  constituted  government,  or  to 
break  in  such  a  flagrant  manner  his  oath  of  military 
obedience.  The  success  of  the  Madero  revolution 
showed  subsequently  how  easily  Reyes  might  have  done 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  339 

the  same  thing,  and  his  inaction  and  Madero's  pluck 
and  its  reward  have,  of  course,  cost  Don  Bernardo 
many  followers.  Before  the  elections  of  19 10,  and 
while  the  attitude  of  the  Reyista  party,  as  well  as  of 
their  leader,  was  in  the  popular  mind  at  least  a  matter 
of  considerable  uncertainty,  there  took  place  a  meet- 
ing between  the  President  and  his  political  general, 
which  has  never  been  quite  satisfactorily  explained, 
even  to  the  Reyistas.  General  Reyes  entered  the  Val- 
ley of  Mexico  on  a  special  train,  from  which  he 
descended  several  stations  outside  of  the  capital,  and 
came  on  to  the  palace  of  Chapultepec  in  a  presidential 
motor-car. 

At  the  summer  palace  he  had  an  interview  with 
Diaz,  and  left  almost  immediately  for  Europe.  It 
was  announced  that  the  President  had  sent  him  abroad 
on  a  military  mission,  with  unlimited  funds,  and  ap- 
parently nothing  to  do.  While  Reyes  was  living  lux- 
uriously in  Paris,  hobnobbing  with  other  Latin-Amer- 
ican personages  in  exile,  the  unfortunate  followers  of 
the  absent  general  were  receiving  a  very  different 
treatment.  Many  who  had  been  outspoken  in  their  op- 
position to  another  term  for  Diaz,  or  to  the  election 
of  Corral,  were  sent  to  prison  without  trial,  and  others 
were  banished  to  Yucatan  upon  a  simple  order  of  the 
Executive.  The  Reyes  revolution  was  scotched,  at 
least,  and  the  much  greater  danger  from  the  Madero 
campaign  was  not  even  suspected  until  it  was  too  late. 
Of  course,  in  view  of  these  facts  there  was  much  talk 
of  "  a  transaction  "  between  Diaz  and  Reyes,  and  many 
Reyistas,  especially  those  who  went  to  jail  for  their 
rashness,  made  very  bitter  remarks.  General  Reyes 
maintained  that  Diaz  ordered  him  to  go  to  Europe 


340        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

to  prepare  plans  for  a  reorganisation  of  the  army  In 
the  light  of  European  military  knowledge,  and  that  he 
went  Immediately,  never  having  disobeyed  orders  In 
his  life,  and  never  having  entertained  the  Idea  of  so 
doing. 

One  of  President  Diaz'  last  official  acts  eighteen 
months  later,  and  a  few  days  before  his  fall,  was  to 
call  Reyes  back  from  Europe.  He  probably  recog- 
nised at  this  time  that  his  own  cause  was  lost,  and,  with 
the  cunning  of  the  Zapotec  Indian  that  he  is,  he  sought 
to  rob  Madero  of  his  victory  by  reviving  the  Reyes 
legend.  However,  the  complete  collapse  of  the  Diaz 
administration  came  quicker  than  was  expected.  It 
took  place  while  General  Reyes  was  still  at  sea,  and  on 
his  arrival  at  Havana  he  received  orders  from  the 
then  Secretary  of  War  to  disembark  there  and  await 
instructions.  For  some  weeks  Madero  and  most  of 
the  leaders  of  the  revolution  were  violently  opposed  to 
Reyes'  return  to  Mexico.  Indeed,  several  unfortunate 
gentlemen  were  about  this  time  killed  in  cold  blood  on 
the  road  between  Vera  Cruz  and  the  capital,  because 
they  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  resemble  the  General, 
it  being  widely  rumoured  at  the  time  that  Reyes  was 
pushing  his  way  secretly  to  Mexico  City. 

A  few  weeks  later,  however,  Madero  became  more 
tolerant,  and  Reyes  was  allowed  to  return.  His  re- 
ception by  the  people  of  the  capital  was  not  very  im- 
pressive; in  fact,  it  was  almost  a  fiasco.  Reyes  cul- 
tivated friendly  relations  with  Madero,  and  It  was 
generally  believed  at  one  time  that  he  would  be  ap- 
pointed Minister  of  War  In  Madero's  cabinet,  but 
some  weeks  later  Reyes  was  an  avowed  candidate 
for   the  presidency,    and  his  relations   with   the   chief 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  341 

of  the  revolution  were  not  so  cordial.  Indeed,  in  a 
speech  at  Cautia,  Madero  openly  charged  his  rival 
with  having  plotted  his  assassination.  General  Reyes' 
candidacy  was  not  received  In  any  section  of  the  re- 
public with  popular  enthusiasm.  His  chances  of  suc- 
cess in  a  fair  election  were  absolutely  nil,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  divine  his  motives.  Around  his  can- 
didacy, of  course,  centred  much  talk  of  a  possible 
counter-revolution.  He  was  probably  supported 
secretly  by  members  of  the  Cientifico  group,  who, 
though  without  popular  following,  exercise  the  power 
which  great  wealth  gives.  While  not  expecting  the 
success  of  Reyes,  these  anonymous  Cientificos  were 
doubtless  trying  to  sow  discord  in  the  Liberal  ranks, 
and  to  bring  about  a  chaotic  state  of  affairs  in  which 
there  might  be  a  chance  for  a  reactionary  movement  in 
the  name  of  law  and  order  and  of  conservatism. 

Of  course,  Madero  is  not  as  popular  to-day  as 
when  he  rode  into  Mexico,  the  conquering  hero. 
He  has  had  to  support  the  provisional  govern- 
ment in  its  efforts  to  maintain  law  and  order,  and 
he  has  had  to  develop  a  political  platform  which  was 
not  such  a  simple  matter  as  the  battle  cry  of  manhood 
suffrage  and  no  re-election,  with  which  he  won  the 
revolutionary  struggle.  Thousands  have  fallen  away 
from  him,  because  as  yet  Madero  has  had  few  offices 
to  dispose  of,  and  because  he  has  been  compelled  by 
the  constitutional  aspects  of  the  situation  to  urge  his 
followers  to  address  the  courts  with  their  complaints, 
rather  than  to  furnish  a  remedy  himself  with  a  stroke 
of  the  pen,  as  some  of  the  revolutionists  expected. 
He  has  settled  strikes,  and  he  has  disbanded  forty 
thousand  men,  the  great  majority  of  his  soldiers,  who 


342        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

have  gone  to  their  homes,  with  hardly  anything  more 
than  promises  to  pay  in  the  future. 

However,  at  the  convention  of  the  Progressive 
party,  in  which,  on  August  30th,  Madero  was  nom- 
inated for  the  presidency  by  acclamation,  it  was  shown 
that  in  the  main  his  wonderful  power  over  the  Mexican 
people  was  unimpaired. 

Only  in  one  thing  did  the  convention  deny  him  and 
balk  at  his  leadership.      Recognising  the  great  num- 
ber of  good  citizens  who  form  the  Catholic  party,  by 
whom  Madero  has  also  been  nominated  for  the  presi- 
dency, the  chief  of  the  revolution  did  not  wish  a  re- 
ligious plank  In  the  platform,  but  It  was  put  in,  and 
the  Progressive  party  has  gone  on  record  as  promising 
to  enforce  the  laws  of  the  Reform  with   full  vigor. 
These    laws   were    promulgated   by   Juarez    at    Vera 
Cruz   in   July,    1859,    and   they   appropriated,    in   the 
name  of  the  nation,  all  the  property  of  the  secular  and 
regular  clergy.     They  provided  for  the  separation  of 
the  Church  and  State,  and  for  religious  tolerance  and 
freedom;  they  abolished  existing  religious  orders,  and 
prohibited  the  establishment  of  new  ones.     They  pro- 
claimed marriage  in  its  legal  aspects  a  civil  contract; 
secularised  the  cemeteries,  and  stopped  the  official  ob- 
servance of  several  religious  holidays.      Despite  these 
drastic  laws,  and  the  ruthless  way  in  which  Juarez  him- 
self enforced  them,  the  Catholic  Church  in  Mexico  to- 
day holds,  not  as  a  church,  but  in  the  name  of  many 
of  its  devoted  adherents,  a  great  amount  of  property, 
which  is  conservatively  estimated  as  approximating  in 
value  several  hundred  millions.     In  the  Church  hold- 
ings there  are  many  country  estates  which  will  have  to 
be  looked  into  when  the  new  agrarian  legislation,  which 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  343 

the  revolution  has  promised,  is  being  planned.  It  is 
probable  that  Madero  will  treat  the  Church  with  the 
same  consideration  that  he  will  show  to  the  other  large 
landlords  who  are  not  paying  their  fair  share  of  taxes. 

The  provisional  government  having  had  its  hands 
full,  indeed  more  than  full,  with  police  work,  did 
not  put  definitely  into  operation  any  of  the  reforms 
which  the  revolutionary  programme,  that  of  San  Luis 
Potosi,  promised,  Madero  avowedly  awaiting  the  sup- 
port and  the  co-operation  of  a  congress  yet  to  be 
elected  by  the  people.  But  the  chief  of  the  revolution 
was  no  more  outspoken  than  is  the  President  to-day, 
in  promising  radical  agrarian  legislation,  an  examina- 
tion into  the  titles  by  which  the  favourites  of  Diaz, 
and  this  includes  some  distinguished  foreigners,  are 
holding  domains  as  large  and  larger  than  some  of  our 
middle-sized  states,  an  examination  into  the  abuses  of 
the  pulque  traffic,  and  the  machinery  of  the  pulque 
trust,  and  into  the  apparently  prescriptive  right  of  cer- 
tain classes  of  society  to  live  without  work  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  government.  Of  course,  behind  each  one 
of  these  vested  interests  are  entrenched  thousands  of 
undesirable  citizens,  who  will  knife  the  courageous  re- 
former with  their  secret  ballots,  who  will  stir  up  dis- 
orders whenever  they  can  without  endangering  their 
own  lives. 

The  reason  why  some  of  his  followers  and  some  of 
the  supporting  societies  have  fallen  away  from  Madero 
are  many,  and  some,  of  course,  cannot  be  stated  or 
avowed;  they  can  only  be  guessed  at.  The  best  of 
those  who  now  lag  in  their  support  of  popular  govern- 
ment, which  Madero  alone  represents  in  the  coming 
contest,   date   their   regretful   opposition   to   the   step 


344        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

which  Madero  took  when  he  consented  to  a  provisional 
government  being  installed  when  the  Diaz  administra- 
tion collapsed,  and  the  dictator  fled.  They  would 
have  preferred  to  have  entered  into  power  without 
further  delay,  or  without  improvising  the  makeshift 
of  a  transitional  government.  Madero's  answer  to 
this  is  convincing  to  most,  and  satisfactory  to  the  im- 
partial. When  the  Diaz  bubble  burst,  the  forces  of 
the  revolution  were,  as  he  says,  for  the  most  part  far 
away  In  the  north,  or  far  away  In  the  south;  the  country 
was  threatened  by  the  forces  of  anarchy,  and  the 
danger  was  greatest  at  the  capital.  Under  the  cir- 
cumstances Madero  preferred  a  delay  of  six  months 
in  the  reform  programme,  and  a  general  election, 
to  wading  Into  power  through  a  welter  of  blood  and 
carnage,  which  was  as  repulsive  to  him  as  it  was,  he 
thought,  entirely  unnecessary. 

It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped,  however,  as  the  situ- 
ation develops  and  the  danger  of  discord  in  the  patri- 
otic and  progressive  ranks  becomes  more  apparent, 
these  dissensions  will  give  place  to  a  better  spirit,  and 
all  minor  misunderstandings  be  brushed  away.  Dr. 
Gomez,  who  for  the  moment  seems  to  occupy  an 
equivocal  position,  is,  I  believe,  unselfish  in  his  patri- 
otic course,  and  I  know  him  to  be  a  man  of  great 
energy  and  Intelligence.  He  is  a  full-blooded  coast 
Indian,  who  has  risen  from  what  was,  I  believe, 
practically  peonage  to  education,  and  to  culture,  and  to 
great  ability  in  the  practice  of  medicine.  Indeed,  in 
his  life  and  his  achievements  Dr.  Gomez  personifies 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  hopeful  signs  of  the 
new  era,  which  seems  to  be  dawning  in  Mexico.  In 
the  days  of  doubt  and  uncertainty,  which  are  sure  to 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  345 

come,  we  should  charitably  recall  that  we,  too,  passed 
through  such  throes,  and  that,  indeed,  there  were  mo- 
ments when  even  Franklin  was  uncertain  whether  our 
sun  was  rising  or  was  setting. 

In  March,  19 12,  the  clouds  of  political  uncertainty 
still  hang  over  Mexico.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the 
horizon  has  darkened  rather  than  cleared  during  the 
last  five  months.  In  October,  191 1,  the  Mexican 
voters,  in  a  fair  election,  confirmed  the  results  of  the 
revolutionary  campaign,-  and  Seiior  Madero  became 
Chief  Magistrate  by  due  process  of  the  law.  The 
defection  of  the  Vasquez  Gomez  faction  among  the 
revolutionists  became  more  noticeable  during  the  elec- 
toral campaign,  and  now,  at  last,  undeterred  by  the 
ridiculous  ending  of  General  Reyes'  pronunciamento, 
the  man  whom  Madero  most  relied  upon,  who  certainly 
helped  him  materially  to  success,  has  taken  the  field 
against  his  former  chief.  Unhappily,  Mexico  is  now 
face  to  face,  not  only  with  the  civil  war  between  the 
honest  and  the  law-abiding,  and  the  organised  banditti, 
which  even  the  Diaz  regime  only  kept  in  check,  but 
could  not  root  out,  but  with  a  fraternal  struggle  be- 
tween the  very  men  who,  acting  patriotically,  brought 
to  a  dramatic  close  less  than  a  year  ago  the  despotism 
of  Diaz,  which  is  now  so  generally  regretted. 

However  the  situation  may  develop,  it  is  certainly 
one  which  imposes  heavy  responsibilities  and  grave 
duties  upon  the  Administration  in  Washington.  Only 
a  few  years  ago,  and  at  this  time  the  conditions  seemed 
to  justify  his  optimism,  Mr.  Root  entertained  the  hope 
that  the  Republic  of  Mexico  was  able  and  could  be  in- 
duced to  share  with  us  the  arduous  burden  which  police 
work  in  the  Caribbean  and  in  the  Central  American 


346        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

States  imposes,*  but  to-day  the  tables  have  turned,  and 
there  is  more  law  and  order  even  in  Honduras  than  in 
unfortunate  Mexico.  While  President  Madero  is  be- 
ing held  generally  accountable  for  the  breakdown  of 
the  new  government,  in  my  opinion  no  one  is  so  clearly 
responsible  for  the  deplorable  situation  as  is  the  ex- 
dictator.  Don  Porfirio  Diaz  ruled  the  republic  for 
forty  years  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  with  no  thought  of 
the  days  or  of  the  men,  and  of  their  education,  that 
were  to  come  after  him.  Politically  and  in  all  matters 
touching  upon  self-government,  he  left  his  people,  after 
forty  years  of  repressive  government,  as  backward  and 
incompetent  as  when,  with  a  handful  of  bandits  and 
Indians,  he  imposed  upon  them  his  regime  of  personal 
despotism. 

The  apparent  failure  of  the  Madero  govern- 
ment, resting  upon  the  law  and  not  upon  bayonets, 
is  but  another  proof  and  illustration  of  how  selfishly 
Diaz  ruled  Mexico.  He  might  have  founded  a 
great  commonwealth,  but  he  chose  to  be  a  dictator, 
and  to  rule  tyrannically,  upheld  by  convict  soldiers. 
While  his  unfortunate  country  seems  destined  to 
reap  the  whirlwind  which  he  sowed  so  lightheartedly, 
I  do  not  think  that  General  Diaz  will  escape  his  re- 
sponsibility in  history.  The  backward  steps  taken  in 
Mexico  during  the  last  eighteen  months  have  been  at- 
tended by  similar  discouraging  movements  in  several 
of  the  Central  American  States.  The  failure  of  the 
Senate  to  ratify  the  treaties  with  Nicaragua  and  with 
Honduras,  providing  for  a  fiscal  arrangement  similar 
in  plan  and  scope  to  our  Santo  Domingo  protocol,  is 
certainly  discouraging  to  the  conservative  and  re- 
spectable fractions  of  society  in  these  unfortunate  coun- 

*See  Appendix  L,  page  475. 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  347 

tries.  Both  republics  are  over  their  head  and  heels  in 
debt,  and  their  credit  is  nil  without  the  surety,  under 
certain  restrictions,  of  the  United  States  Government. 
The  foreign,  almost  exclusively  foreign,  bondholders  are 
naturally  urging  their  governments  to  take  active  steps 
to  protect  their  long-neglected  interests,  and  the  conse- 
quences cannot  be  other  than  vexatious  to  all  concerned. 
Mr.  Root,  then  Secretary  of  State,  in  a  speech  made 
in  1904  before  the  New  England  Society  in  New  York, 
seemed  to  have  in  view  the  very  case  that  is  before  us. 
He  said: 

"  And  if  we  are  to  maintain  this  doctrine  [the 
declaration  of  Monroe],  which  is  vital  to  our  na- 
tional life  and  safety,  at  the  same  time  when  we  say  to 
the  other  powers  of  the  world,  '  You  shall  not  push 
your  remedies  for  wrong  against  these  republics  to  the 
point  of  occupying  their  territory,'  we  are  bound  to 
say  that,  whenever  the  wrong  cannot  be  otherwise 
redressed,  we  ourselves  will  see  that  it  is  redressed." 

To-day  we  are  not  allowing  the  foreign  bondholders 
to  collect  their  just  dues.  Our  Senate  refuses  to  al- 
low Nicaragua  and  Honduras  to  borrow  money  in  the 
only  way  they  can — and  apparently  everything  must 
go  on  as  before.  It  is  certainly  a  distressing  situation, 
and  a  complete  breakdown  of  civilisation,  which,  let 
us  hope,  is  only  temporary,  on  this  continent,  where, 
as  Mr.  Olney  said,  "  the  United  States  is  practically 
sovereign,  and  its  fiat  is  law." 

In  pushing  the  scheme  for  a  union  of  the  five  Central 
American  republics,  and  this  was  evidently  the  main 
purpose  of  his  recent  tour  in  the  Caribbean,  Mr.  Knox 
is  doing  with  characteristic  energy  and  intelligence  ex- 
cellent educational  work.     However,  he  is  engaged  on 


348        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

a  propaganda  which  is  not  at  all  likely  to  bear  fruit  at 
an  early  day. 

Undoubtedly  the  Central  American  union  affords  a 
solution  for  many  of  the  difficulties  and  the  disad- 
vantages from  which  the  separate  and  isolated  repub- 
lics are  suffering,  but  the  union  or  confederation  will 
be  difficult  to  obtain;  and,  as  the  history  of  previous 
attempts  clearly  demonstrates,  it  will  be  still  more  dif- 
ficult to  maintain  and  uphold,  once  it  is  formed.  The 
unionists  are  taking  away  from  a  large  and  most  in- 
fluential class,  if  not  the  most  highly  esteemed  in  the 
five  republics,  namely,  the  professional  politicians,  their 
means  of  livelihood  without  "  degrading  "  labour,  and 
it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  this  class  will  allow  such  a 
good  thing  as  is  their  present  profession  to  slip  through 
their  fingers  without  a  struggle.  The  five  republics 
were  united  from  1838  to  1841.  A  confederation  was 
again  proposed  in  1889,  but  the  congresses  of  Costa 
Rica  and  Nicaragua  held  back,  and  prevented  its 
realisation.  However,  these  very  countries,  together 
with  Salvador,  in  1895  formed  a  union  which  survived 
until  1899. 

In  the  face  of  these  failures,  which  must  have  proved 
discouraging,  it  is,  nevertheless,  certain  that  the 
partisans  of  the  union  have  increased  both  in  numbers 
and  in  influence,  and  that  much  pioneer  work  has  been 
accomplished  in  paving  the  way  and  removing  the 
difficulties  which  lie  in  the  path  of  a  more  perfect  union. 
Courts  of  justice  have  been  created  for  the  purpose  of 
unifying  and  codifying  the  laws  in  use,  and  an  interna- 
tional bureau  has  been  founded  to  develop  the  inter- 
ests, commercial  and  industrial,  which  the  five  repub- 
lics have  in  common.     This  bureau  holds  annual  re- 


MEXICO  AFTER  DIAZ  349 

unions  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  capitals,  at  which 
questions  of  common  interest,  such  as  the  development 
of  agriculture,  the  preservation  of  peace,  monetary 
questions,  and  tariffs  are  freely  discussed. 

This  propaganda  has  been  encouraged  by  every  re- 
cent administration  in  Washington,  and  certainly  great 
practical  results  have  been  obtained  by  the  institution 
of  the  High  Court  of  Justice  in  Central  America, 
which  on  several  occasions  has  prevented  armed  con- 
flicts between  the  states  which  are  so  given  to  civil 
strife.  We  might  conclude  that  the  attitude  of  the 
United  States  upon  this  question,  the  tireless  efforts 
which  have  been  made  by  successive  administrations  to 
strengthen  the  party  of  the  Central  American  union, 
would  have  silenced  the  partisans  of  Zelaya  and  other 
fire-eaters,  who  pretend  to  see  in  our  every  move  a 
more  or  less  veiled  attempt  at  annexation,  for  it  is  cer- 
tain that  a  united  Central  America  would  develop 
into  an  interesting  buffer  state  between  North  and 
South  America,  and  would  most  certainly  prove  more 
difficult  to  absorb  than  the  weak  and  isolated  republics 
which  are  to-day  engaged  in  impoverishing  one  another 
by  more  or  less  open  warfare.  However,  this  recog- 
nition of  our  unselfishness  is  not  general,  and  it  will 
probably  be  a  matter  of  slow  growth.  Most  Central 
American  statesmen  with  whom  I  have  conversed  on 
the  subject  have,  with  more  or  less  frankness,  admitted 
that  we  could  best  help  the  cause  of  the  Central  Amer- 
ican union  and  the  possibility  of  peace  and  good  gov- 
ernment which  It  presents,  by  abstaining  from  all  mani- 
festations of  preference,  much  less  of  ardent  partisan- 
ship in  the  matter.* 

*  For  recent  definition  of  our  Central  American  policy,  see  Ap- 
pendix L,  page  475. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

The  Conquest  of  the  Isthmus 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama  *  runs  nearly  east  and  west, 
and  the  canal  traverses  it  from  Colon  on  the  north  to 
Panama  on  the  south,  in  a  general  direction  from 
northwest  to  southeast,  the  Pacific  terminus  being 
twenty-two  miles  east  of  the  Atlantic  entrance. 

The  greatest  difficulty  of  the  canal  project  now  near- 
ing  completion  was  and  is  the  control  and  disposal  of 
the  waters  of  the  Chagres  River,  and  its  many  tribu- 
taries. The  Chagres  runs  a  circuitous  serpentine 
course,  backwards  and  forwards  across  the  Isthmus 
from  its  source  in  the  San  Bias  Mountains,  emptying 
into  the  Caribbean  Sea  a  mile  or  two  west  of  Limon 
Bay.  One  of  the  merits  claimed  for  the  canal  plan  as 
finally  adopted  is  that  it  converts  what  was  an  obstacle 
into  the  motive  power  of  the  colossal  project,  for 
without  the  formerly  greatly  feared  floods  of  the 
Chagres  the  canal  would  simply  be  a  dry  ditch,  use- 
less for  navigation. 

The  American  canal  consists  of  a  sea-level  entrance 
channel  from  Limon  Bay  to  Gatun,  about  seven  miles 
long,  forty-one  feet  deep  at  mean  tide,  and  with  a 
bottom  width  of  five  hundred  feet.  At  Gatun  the 
canal  becomes  a  high-level  canal,  from  which  it  takes 
its  name.  Here  a  mammoth  dam  has  been  constructed 
across  the  valley  by  which  the  waters  of  the  Chagres 

*  For  text  of  treaty  with  the  Republic  of  Panama  and  commercial 
statistics,  see  Appendix  J,  page  460. 

350 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        351 

River  are  impounded  and  a  lake,  which  will  have  an 
area  of  about  a  hundred  and  sixty-four  square  miles, 
is  formed.  This  high  level  is  maintained  until  Pedro 
Miguel,  thirty-two  miles  away,  is  reached.  Here  the 
Pacific  side  of  the  lake  is  confined  by  a  dam  between 
the  hills,  and  here  also  the  descent  towards  a  lower 
level  begins  through  the  locks. 

The  Gatun  dam,  which  is  the  bulwark  of  the  reser- 
voir lake,  is  nearly  one  mile  and  a  half  long,  measured 
on  its  crest,  fully  half  a  mile  wide  at  its  base,  and 
about  four  hundred  feet  wide  at  the  water  surface, 
and  the  crest,  as  planned,  will  be  at  an  elevation  of 
one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  above  mean  sea-level 
and  about  thirty  feet  above  the  expected  normal  level 
of  the  lake.  Of  the  total  length  of  the  dam  only  five 
hundred  feet,  or  one-fifteenth  part,  will  be  exposed  to 
the  maximum  water  head  or  pressure  of  eighty-five 
feet.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  bulwark  is  a  mountain 
rather  than  a  dam,  and  it  is  confidently  expected  that 
a  view  of  its  colossal  proportions  will  disarm  those 
critics  of  the  project  who  have  ever  thought  to  see 
in  an  earthen  dam  at  this  point  the  fatal  weakness  of 
the  high-level  plan. 

The  spillway  in  the  dam  is  a  concrete-lined  opening 
twelve  hundred  feet  long  and  three  hundred  feet  wide 
cut  through  a  hill  of  rock  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the 
dam,  the  bottom  of  the  spillway  opening  being  ten  feet 
above  sea-level.  There  are  six  double  locks  of  con- 
crete in  the  canal,  three  pairs  in  flight  at  Gatun,  with 
a  combined  lift  or  drop  of  eighty-five  feet.  One  pair 
at  Pedro  Miguel  with  a  lift  or  drop  of  thirty  and  a 
third  feet,  and  two  pairs  at  Miraflores  with  a  com- 
bined lift  or  drop  of  fifty-four   feet  eight  inches   at 


352        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

mean  tide.  For  sixteen  miles  from  the  Gatun  dam 
the  canal  channel  will  be  a  thousand  feet  broad,  then 
for  four  miles  it  will  narrow  to  eight  hundred  feet 
and  for  four  miles  further,  indeed  to  the  northern 
entrance  of  Culebra  cut  at  Bas  Obispo,  it  will  have  a 
width  of  five  hundred  feet,  with  depth  varying  from 
eighty-five  feet  to  forty-five  feet  the  minimum.  The 
water  level  in  the  cut  will,  of  course,  be  that  of  the 
lake  and  with  a  miniumum  depth  of  forty-five  feet. 
Through  the  cut  the  minimum  bottom  width  of  the 
canal,  three  hundred  feet,  will  be  reached. 

On  the  Pacific  side  of  the  cut  or  continental  divide 
the  canal  work  consists,  in  addition  to  the  locks  already 
enumerated,  of  the  breakwaters  extending  from  Balboa 
to  Naos  Island,  a  distance  of  a  little  more  than  three 
miles,  and  the  excavation  of  the  canal  and  ocean  chan- 
nel to  deep  water  In  the  Pacific.  At  the  Pacific  en- 
trance of  the  canal  the  fluctuations  of  tide  are  con- 
siderable, amounting  to  nearly  twenty  feet.  The  ar- 
rangements in  the  form  of  gates  in  the  tidal  lock,  by 
which  this  obstacle  is  to  be  met,  are  new  and  untried, 
-and  there  is  no  absolute  certainty  that  they  will  work 
successfully.  Here  we  are  face  to  face  with  one  of 
several  important  details  of  the  great  construction 
which  are  absolutely  without  precedent,  and  whose 
strength  or  weakness  will  only  be  apparent  when  the 
canal  is  completed. 

The  length  of  the  canal  from  shore-line  to  shore- 
line is  about  forty  miles.  From  deep  water  to  deep 
water  it  is  ten  miles  longer.  Throughout  its  course 
there  are  no  lazy  turns,  a  thing  which  the  mariner  notes 
with  delight.  The  changing  course  is  met  by  a  succes- 
sion of  twenty-two  clean-cut  angles,  without  excessive 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        353 

curvature  In  any  place  such  as  would  retard  or  en- 
danger navigation. 

Even  from  the  above  fragmentary  sketch  of  the 
canal  project  the  vital  importance  of  an  adequate 
water  supply  will  be  apparent.  Critics  of  the  high- 
level  plan,  which  we  adopted,  have  not  of  late  so 
frequently  repeated  their  criticisms  of  the  Gatun  dam, 
but  on  the  question  of  whether  we  have  enough  water 
to  work  the  canal  they  are  far  from  being  silent.  And, 
of  course,  in  a  sense  their  criticism  is  not  without  foun- 
dation— however  magnificent  the  dam,  however  won- 
derful the  locks,  and  however  accurate  the  electrical 
appliances  to  supply  the  power,  sea-going  ships  will 
not  be  able  to  pass  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  the  dream 
of  centuries  will  not  be  realised,  unless  the  water-level 
of  forty-five  feet  is  always  maintained  In  the  channel 
of  the  interoceanic  waterway. 

The  confidence  of  the  canal  engineers  in  the  ade- 
quacy of  the  visible  water  supply  to  maintain  the 
necessary  water-level  Is  based  on  figures,  measure- 
ments, and  observations  which  were  started  by  the 
French  in  1880,  and  have  been  continued  by  ourselves. 
What  appear  to  be  liberal  allowances  are  made  for 
evaporation  and  seepage  and  leakage  at  the  water 
gates  of  the  locks.  However,  should  these  figures 
prove  to  be  deceptive,  should  in  the  dry  season  water 
not  be  forthcoming  in  sufficient  quantities  for  all  the 
lockages  desired,  the  canal  will  not  remain  on  our 
hands  as  the  hopeless  wreck  of  a  colossal  blunder,  as 
these  critics  maintain  will  be  the  case.  To  meet  this 
contingency,  which  It  Is  hoped,  and  with  much  show 
of  reason,  will  never  arise,  a  suitable  site  has  been 
chosen  up  the  Chagres  River,  ten  miles  away  from 


354        IHE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  canal  prism,  where  in  the  season  of  floods  and 
rains  great  quantities  of  water  could  be  accumulated, 
to  be  drawn  upon  in  the  dry  season,  in  case  of  shortage. 
The  site  of  this  emergency  or  secondary  dam  has  been 
selected  and  the  plan  fully  worked  out,  but  construc- 
tion work  has  not  begun,  and  I  understand  will  not 
be,  until  the  necessity  for  the  same  becomes  more 
apparent. 

The  great  work  as  outlined  above  is  presided  over 
by  Colonel  Goethals  the  master-builder,  seconded  by 
Colonel  Hodges,  assistant  chief  engineer  and  designer 
of  the  permanent  structure  of  the  canal.  It  is  sub- 
divided into  three  main  sections.  Colonel  Sibert  of 
the  Engineers  being  in  charge  of  the  Atlantic  Division, 
while  Colonel  Gaillard,  also  of  the  Army,  is  in  charge 
of  the  central  division,  which  includes  the  Gatun  lake 
and  the  Culebra  cut.  The  Pacific  Division  is  the 
peculiar  domain  of  Mr.  S.  B.  Williamson,  a  civil  en- 
gineer of  great  distinction,  one  of  the  many  such  who 
are  numbered  among  the  alumni  of  the  Virginia  Mili- 
tary Institute.  Admiral  Rousseau  is  the  worthy  rep- 
resentative of  the  Navy  in  the  great  work,  while  the 
duties  of  Mr.  Joseph  B.  Bishop,  the  secretary  of  the 
Commission,  are  many  and  exacting,  as  are  those  in  a 
different  sphere  of  Mr.  Thatcher,  the  civil  administra- 
tor of  the  Canal  Zone. 

The  first  days  of  the  visitor  (if  he  is  a  layman)  in 
the  Canal  Zone,  as  a  rule,  leave  only  a  confused  recol- 
lection of  many  things  seen  and  little  understood. 
Generally  he  rushes  wildly  about  for  a  week  of  be- 
wildered days,  dividing  his  time  with  strict  impartiality 
between  the  many  great  and  striking  features  of  the 
work.     Then,  if  he  is  wise,  he  settles  down  and  tries 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        355 

to  get  upon  closer  and  more  intimate  terms  with 
some  one  of  the  wonders  unfolded,  that  one  probably 
which  he  flatters  himself  he  understands.  I,  charmed 
by  their  simplicity,  gradually  became  identified  with 
the  water-gates  of  the  Gatun  lock,  at  the  Atlantic 
entrance  to  the  high  level.  Truly,  as  the  foreman 
explained,  the  mechanism  of  the  gates  is  within  the 
grasp  of  the  most  simple-minded,  merely  "  an  open  and 
shut  game,"  as  he  said,  but  of  enthralling  interest,  for 
here  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  will  make  their  first 
onward  rush  to  wreck  the  work  of  soaring  man,  and 
here,  if  all  goes  well,  the  dreadnoughts  and  the  ocean 
greyhounds  alike  will  be  made  to  walk  upstairs. 

And  here  everything  is  on  a  gigantic  scale.  The 
men  who  are  building  these  great  water-gates  at  Gatun 
treat  appliances  that  handle  fifty-ton  weights  as  though 
they  were  feather  dusters,  with  as  much  nonchalance 
as  if  they  were  sewing  machines.  This  is  a  place 
where  the  roar  of  the  sledge  hammers  is  ceaseless 
and  the  drumming  of  the  riveting  irons  is  never 
hushed.  Each  leaf  of  the  mitred  gate  costs,  I  be- 
lieve, a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  great 
rivets  by  which  the  leaves  are  fastened  into  place  are 
doubtless  not  as  cheap  as  ten-penny  nails.  In  the  twi- 
light of  the  lock  interior  the  rivets  are  hurled  from 
the  heating  furnaces  to  where  they  are  needed.  As 
they  fly  through  the  air  to  the  great  gates  which  are 
being  forged  to  keep  out  the  floods  of  the  Atlantic, 
they  look  like  nothing  half  so  much  as  a  shower  of 
meteors  rushing  through  the  darkling  air  into  space. 

Here  at  the  first  water-gate  of  the  Gatun  locks  and 
beyond  by  the  timbered  coffer-dam,  which  to-day 
alone  protects  and  shields  the   mitred  gates   of  iron 


356        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

from  the  onrush  of  the  Atlantic  tides,  perhaps  the  ad- 
vanced state  of  the  work  is  most  apparent  and  you 
soon  fall  into  the  illusion  that  everything  is  ready 
for  shipping  until  the  cold  calculating  foreman,  with 
the  steel-blue  eye,  comes  along  and  blasts  your  dream 
by  the  admixture  of  a  few,  to  me,  wholly  unsympa- 
thetic facts,  but  at  all  events,  even  the  foreman  cannot 
deny  this,  the  picture  changes  every  day,  and  every 
hour  spells  progress  somewhere.  One  day  I  rode 
through  the  drainage  canal  at  the  bottom  of  the  locks 
and  came  back  at  noon  the  next  day  to  repeat  the  per- 
formance, only  to  find  the  outlet  through  which  we 
had  steamed  so  gaily,  closed  with  a  corselet  of  steel, 
which  was  being  flooded  by  a  river  of  cement.  The 
little  engine  in  which  we  had  travelled  was  entirely 
cut  off  from  the  railway  system,  and  the  engineer  was 
not  a  little  perturbed  at  the  separation.  He  came 
from  Colorado  and  did  not  like  being  a  one-horse 
railway  by  himself,  "  The  Superintendent  wants  me 
to  fetch  and  carry  down  in  this  here  canyon  for  a 
month  or  two,"  he  explained,  "  but  some  day  he  will 
drop  a  chain  from  a  crane  and  haul  me  out  to  open 
air  and  the  main  system  again,  at  least  that's  his 
promise." 

And  one  day  as  I  lingered  by  the  coffer-dam 
I  saw  the  fate  of  that  water  which  had  been  so  pre- 
sumptuous as  to  threaten  the  water-gates  with  flood 
and  the  cement-larkers  with  drowning.  The  engineers 
had  slipped  another  dam  behind  the  pressing  flood, 
and  quietly  and  without  noise  of  any  kind  the  water 
which  I  and  many  another  observer  had  thought 
destined  to  be  first  in  the  lock  was  being  squirted  out 
over  an  adjacent  prairie.     After  the  water  was  out 


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THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        357 

the  suction  dredges  sucked  up  thousands  of  yards  of 
slime,  filled  up  a  little  lake,  by  means  of  their  great 
extension-pipes,  and  here  and  there  reduced  mountains 
to  molehills.  In  a  few  hours  many  familiar  features 
of  the  landscape  had  disappeared.  When  all  the  ooze 
was  sucked  out  the  drilling  machines  were  placed  on 
the  bed  rock  that  was  now  disclosed  to  view  and  one 
wall  began  to  rise  which  is  to  protect  the  vast  lock 
structure  from  earth  slides  and  another  to  guide  the 
incoming  steamers  to  their  first  resting  place  on  their 
epoch-making  journey  across  the  continental  divide. 
So  you  see  to-day  the  freckle-faced,  flannel-shirted 
hydraulic  engineer  can  do  all  the  things  to  the  ocean 
that  King  Canute  could  not. 

Suddenly  the  eleven  o'clock  whistle  echoes  through 
the  yellow  canyon,  and  the  uproar  from  many  ma- 
chines dies  slowly,  it  would  seem  reluctantly  away,  and 
the  voices  of  the  foremen  can  be  heard  shouting: 
"  Pick  'em  up,  pick  'em  up !  "  And  the  men  turn  their 
backs  on  the  great  water-gates,  which  are  ajar.  Just 
as  the  whistle  sounded  a  trained  and,  as  it  would  seem, 
thoroughly  domesticated  travelling  crane  had  deposited 
with  precision  and  with  something  like  respectful 
obedience  to  the  touch  of  the  button  or  the  turn  of  the 
lever,  at  their  very  feet,  an  eighteen-ton  girder  for  one 
leaf  of  the  water-gate,  which  in  the  fulness  of  time  is 
destined  to  hold  back  the  waters  of  the  ocean.  The 
chains  are  loosened  of  their  burden,  and  the  riveters, 
climbing  down  from  their  perches,  coil  the  chains  about 
their  bodies  as  if  they  were  ropes  of  flowers  and  shout: 
"  Pick  'em  up!  Haul  away!  "  I  wish  you  could  see 
then  the  dark  despair  that  is  depicted  on  the  faces  of 
the  men  on  the  lower  level,  whose  fate  it  is  to  puddle 


358        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

about  In  the  swamps  of  cement  below  and  who,  by 
reason  of  the  great  rubber  trousers  which  they  wear  and 
the  uneasy  element,  neither  liquid  nor  solid,  in  which 
their  working  hours  are  lived,  are  not  quick  movers, 

"Pick  'em  up!  Pick  'em  up!"  the  cry  resounds 
through  the  ravine.  Some  one  touches  the  button  or 
some  one  turns  the  lever  and  the  travelling  crane  hoists 
away  out  of  the  depths  a  score  or  so  of  half-naked  men 
with  beads  of  perspiration  dripping  from  their  bare 
khaki-colored  backs.  As  they  squirm  in  and  out  among 
the  chains  and  perform  acrobatic  feats  that  made  at 
least  one  observer's  heart  sink  into  his  boots,  they  are 
shot  out  of  the  yellow  canyon,  and  swinging  clear  of 
the  earth,  dangle  for  a  moment  some  fifty  feet  over- 
head, a  glowing  tangled  knot  of  humanity,  that  recalls 
some  masterpiece  from  the  chisel  of  Cellini  more  than 
anything  I  had  ever  seen  in  life  before.  Then  they 
are  dropped  softly  down  to  the  top  level  of  the  lock 
structure  and  start  for  dinner  quietly,  just  as  though 
they  had  stepped  off  a  trolley  car. 

Out  of  the  glare  of  the  sun  the  men  pass  into  the 
subdued  light  and  the  welcome  coolness  of  the  bird 
cage-shaped  and  wired  eating  houses,  which  give  the 
whole  line  of  our  new  waterway  such  a  very  Japanese 
appearance.  As  they  pass  out  of  the  sunlight  into  the 
twilight  beyond  the  turnstile  the  men  finger  little  brass- 
numbered  checks,  like  the  old-fashioned  trunk  checks  of 
the  last  decade,  which  hang  from  their  belts  and  serve 
to  identify  them.  I  believe,  as  a  man's  work  is  done 
and  a  section  of  the  great  work  finished,  these  checks 
are  called  in  and  the  man  passes  out  into  the  world 
with  nothing  tangible  to  show  that  he  has  played  his 
part  in  that  great  work  which  Is  the  wonder  of  the  day 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        359 

and  likely  to  remain  the  miracle  of  the  ages.  I  think 
every  man  who  sees  the  thing  through  or  does  his  little 
part  of  it  with  credit  should  be  allowed  to  retain  this 
medal  of  highest  honour,  this  Victoria  Cross,  this  em- 
blem of  membership  In  that  greater  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati.* 

When  the  traveller  comes  to  Culebra,  fortunately 
for  him  he  cannot  see  all  the  wonders  and  all  the  hor- 
rors of  the  crooked,  snaky  "  cut  "  at  once,  and  so  he 
escapes  a  very  disagreeable  moment.  It  is  best  to  take 
the  troubles  which  the  cutting  of  the  divide  entails  in 
short  cross-sections,  emulating  the  example  of  Colonel 
Galllard,  the  engineer  upon  whom  the  solution  of  the 
Culebra  problems  has  devolved,  and  who  is  known  as 
the  most  cheerful  man  in  the  Zone.  At  a  banquet  of 
the  "  Kangaroos  "  an  orator  described  him,  not  inaptly, 
as  "  the  cheerful  chamois  of  the  Culebra  cut."  Upon 
him  the  duty  has  devolved  of  severing  this  backbone 
that  holds  North  and  South  America  together,  and,  sur- 
prisingly enough,  the  trouble  is  not  that  this  backbone 
is  tough,  but  that  it  has  hardly  the  strength  and  con- 
sistency of  the  traditional  chocolate  eclair.  It  won't 
stay  cut,  but  slides  together  again,  and  If  they  can't 
get  together  the  severed  portions  will  not  sit  up,  can 
hardly  be  made  to  sit  up  when  supported,  what  they 
love  to  do  is  to  relax  or  collapse,  and  to  drop  down  into 
that  dry  ditch  where  some  day  soon,  though  it  re- 
quires the  faith  that  removes  mountains  to  believe  it, 
the  ocean  greyhounds  will  go  steaming  by. 

*  I  am  informed  since  the  foregoing  was  written  that  the  Isthmian 
Canal  Commission  are  now  permitting  all  men  who  are  honourably 
discharged  after  two  years'  work,  to  take  with  them  these  simple 
metal  discs. 


36o        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Perhaps  you  could  take  in  with  your  eye  a  cross- 
section  of  the  staggering  spectacle  which  the  Culebra 
presents,  if  it  were  not  for  the  noise.  Perhaps  you 
have  never  heard  of  noise  affecting  the  optic  nerve, 
but  that  is  merely  one  way  of  saying  you  have  never 
been  in  the  "  cut."  Down  there  the  man  of  keenest 
hearing  has  no  advantage  over  the  deaf  mute.  If  you 
are  not  struck  speechless  as  you  ought  to  be,  communi- 
cate your  thoughts  in  the  sign  language,  but  you  had 
better  concentrate  all  your  attention  on  flying  boulders, 
incipient  avalanches,  and  erratic  steam  shovels.  All 
about  you  are  marshalled  machines,  whole  battalions 
of  machines  of  every  variety,  those  that  build  up  and 
those  that  tear  down.  The  whole  gamut  of  invention 
is  represented  from  the  drill,  that  goes  through  granite, 
to  the  titanic  hose,  which  washes  away  bulging  hil- 
locks and  sharp  corners  just  as  though  they  were  so 
many  sand  piles  erected  by  children  at  play.  And 
speaking  of  children  the  concrete  guns  are  simply  boys' 
blow-pipes,  magnified  to  heroic  size.  They  squirt  their 
sticky  charges  against  the  uneasy  walls  of  the  man- 
created  canyon  in  the  hope  (it  never  was  realised) 
that  after  this  tonic  has  been  administered  the  walls 
will  sit  up  and  cease  from  crumbling  away. 

But  the  steam  shovels,  especially  those  of  the  ninety- 
five  ton  variety,  are  the  popular  tools  which  report 
progress  every  time  they  eat  into  the  mountain-side, 
and  lay  bare  its  geological  secrets.  Sometimes  moon- 
stones and  agates  are  brought  to  light,  but  generally 
it  is  dirt,  generally  dirt  of  the  most  "  ornery  "  kind,  as 
the  steam-shovel  men  all  agree.  After  the  shovels 
come  the  hose,  washing  up  the  debris,  clearing  the 
sidewalks,  as  it  were,  under  trememdous  hot-air  pres- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        361 

sure.  The  cavalry,  it  would  seem,  are  represented  by 
the  patrols  and  squads  of  spidery-shaped  drills,  which 
make  the  holes  for  the  dynamite.  You  think  these 
drills  are  simply  playing  and  wasting  valuable  time; 
as  a  matter  of  fact  they  do  not  occupy  the  centre  of 
this  great  stage  until  at  noon,  when  the  hungry  hordes 
have  gone  to  eat,  or  at  night  when  they  have  gone 
away  to  sleep  at  higher  levels.  It  is  only  then  that  the 
flights  and  squadrons  of  drills  are  withdrawn  from  the 
advanced  posts,  where  they  have  been  digging  dyna- 
mite holes  all  day,  and  the  electric  spark  is  sent  along 
the  invisible  wire,  and,  with  a  roaring  crash,  the  hills 
are  rent.  It's  a  great  moment,  this,  for  the  drills, 
and  for  those  grimy,  daring  men  who  play  around  all 
day  in  the  bottom  of  the  cut  with  dynamite  sticks  as 
others  play  with  golf  clubs.  There  is  no  one  there  to 
cheer,  but  it  is  a  hard  moment  for  the  bluff  steam 
shovels  with  their  blustering  ways,  and  they  generally 
relieve  the  awkwardness  of  the  moment  by  blowing 
off  steam.  Great  and  mighty  are  the  shovels  and  de- 
servedly far-reaching  is  their  renown,  but  the  mighty 
excavation  has  brought  to  light  nuts  which  the  shovels 
would  find  it  hard  to  crack  were  it  not  for  the  pre- 
paratory pioneer  work  of  the  slender  drills  and  the 
disintegrating  influence  of  the  dynamite  charges. 

The  walk  through  the  cut  always  leads  to  where  Gold 
Hill,  the  highest  point  in  the  Zone,  throws,  in  more 
senses  than  one,  its  dark  shadow  over  this  section  of 
the  battlefield.  I  have  always  been  a  follower  of  those 
enthusiastic,  plausible,  and  perhaps  profoundly  ignorant 
men  who  have  tried  so  hard  to  induce  the  canal  com- 
missioners to  undermine  Gold  Hill  on  the  far  side,  not 
for  treasure  trove,  but  in  the  hope  that,  robbed  of  its 


362        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

underpinnings,  this  menacing  mountain  would  slide 
away  and  disappear  from  the  horizon,  where  to-day  it 
looms  so  large  and  so  full  of  menace.  The  project  has 
never  appealed  to  the  commission.  The  movement  of 
the  hill,  they  claim,  supposing  that  it  had  once  been 
started,  would  depend  entirely  upon  the  underlying 
geological  formation,  of  which  we  know  nothing,  and 
not  upon  the  wishes  of  the  starters.  Probably  it  is 
best  to  leave  it  alone — as  they  have  decided.  However, 
where  all  the  earth  is  moving  it  seems  excessively 
optimistic  to  hope  that  Gold  Hill  will  always  stand 
stock-still.  Perhaps  it  may  slide  away  from  it,  per- 
haps it  may  slide  into  the  "  cut."  Certain  only  it  is 
that  long  as  Gold  Hill  stands  where  it  does  there  is  the 
possibility  of  a  catastrophe  which  would  wreck  our 
inter-oceanic  waterway  for  years,  and  perhaps  forever. 

While  the  working  hours  are  on  and  fifty  thousand 
husky  men  are  working  within  the  canal  prism  at  high 
pressure  to  see  the  thing  through,  you  feel  proud  to 
be  a  man  and  a  brother  of  these  men  of  many  colours 
and  of  many  nations,  who,  under  the  leadership  and  the 
guidance  of  American  engineers,  are  removing  moun- 
tains, flooding  waterways,  and  preparing  the  dry  land. 
There  is  no  thought  of  failure  or  even  of  appreciable 
delay  along  that  far-flung  battle  line,  from  the  shallows 
in  Limon  Bay,  where  Drake  is  resting  in  his  leaden 
coflfin,  to  "  old  "  Panama,  where  Morgan  was  wont  to 
singe  the  King  of  Spain's  beard,  and  make  free  with 
his  ingots  and  his  bullion. 

In  working  hours  you  are  fired  by  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  workers.  You,  too,  though  only  a  camp  fol- 
lower, a  spectator,  an  unworthy  clerk,  if  you  will,  of 
the  ever  victorious  army,  you  too  follow  the  "  snow- 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        363 

white  plume  "  to  the  deepest  levels  or  to  the  top  of 
the  continental  divide,  from  whence  Balboa  did  not 
see  both  oceans,  unless  the  old  Conquistador's  eyes 
were  quite  different  from  those  of  other  mortals.  But 
do  not  venture  into  the  canal  prism  at  night  or  on 
the  Sabbath,  or  on  one  of  the  infrequent  holidays,  if 
you  would  preserve  your  equanimity  and  optimistic 
poise.  I  spent  one  solitary  Sunday  in  the  cut,  and  it 
required  many  cheery  days  of  companionship  with  the 
workers,  many  bright  hours  of  visible  conquest  to  dis- 
pel the  gloomy  forebodings  that  then  assailed,  if  they 
did  not  quite  possess  me. 

It  is  an  unpleasant  experience,  and  yet  I  know  no 
other  way  in  which  the  odds  of  the  venture  can  be 
gauged,  or  the  terms  upon  which  the  battle  is  being 
fought,  appreciated.  Man  is  resting,  but  restless  Na- 
ture is  at  work  and  her  sinister  opposition  to  man's 
greatest  achievement  becomes  apparent  in  all  its 
deadly  effectiveness. 

As  I  walked  along  one  of  the  lower  reaches  of  the 
cut,  a  bank  caved  in  before  my  eyes,  and  I  was  en- 
veloped in  a  splashing  spray  of  muddy  water.  It  was 
as  if  a  geyser  had  burst  out  from  the  bowels  of  the 
embankment.  I  looked  about  me  for  an  alarm  to 
sound,  but  I  was  alone  in  a  great  solitude.  How 
criminal  it  is  that  men  should  be  at  church  or  playing 
baseball  (and  I  knew  they  were  both  praying  and 
playing,  because  I  had  been  cordially  invited  to  both 
places),  while  the  demon  of  destruction  is  having  its 
will  of  the  great  work!  The  torrent  issuing  from  the 
embankment  broadened,  my  heart  sank  as  I  saw  the 
lake  forming  all  around  me.  Can  that  crazy  Spaniard, 
who  leads  a  hermit  existence  in  the  shack  back  of  the 


364        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

hill,  be  right  after  all?  How  impressively  and  how 
without  feeling  he  had  said  to  me  only  yesterday, 
"  Yes,  the  Americans  are  working  wonders,  their 
project  is  worthy  of  every  success,  but,  of  course,  suc- 
cess will  not  be  theirs.  What  God  has  joined  let  no 
man  put  asunder."  I  danced  and  sprang  about  dodg- 
ing the  rising  flood,  and  while  intent  upon  maintaining 
my  retreat  to  the  mainland,  I  saw  through  the  embank- 
ment, now  wholly  collapsed,  what  had  happened.  The 
waters  of  one  of  the  innumerable  tributaries  of  the 
Chagres  had  burst  the  diverting  channel  through 
which  it  was  to  be  escorted  out  of  harm's  way  and 
was  flooding  the  lower  levels.  Soon  it  would  reach 
the  railway  bed,  soon  submerge  the  steam  shovels. 
Suddenly  a  familiar  sound  fell  upon  my  ears.  I  have 
heard  Christmas  chimes  and  the  lightship's  bell  off  a 
bleak  lea  shore,  but  nothing  ever  sounded  half  so  sweet 
to  me  as  the  chug  of  that  automatic  ram  that  started 
to  work  in  the  lower  depths  of  the  Culebra  cut.  An- 
other and  another  joined  in  the  chorus.  Here  and 
there  a  pump  started,  and  the  unruly  waters  were 
quelled  and  pumped  back  whence,  unbidden,  they  had 
come. 

I  wish  man,  with  his  many  inventions,  could  fight 
the  invading  dirt  in  his  absence  as  successfully  as  he 
does  the  water,  but  truth  compels  me  to  say  that,  as 
far  as  my  observation  goes,  he  cannot.  All  this 
Sabbath  day  the  glacier-like  "  slides "  were,  with- 
out haste  and  without  rest,  pouring  their  burden  of 
earth  into  the  deep  cut  that  man,  with  his  many  ma- 
chines and  many  forms  of  power,  has  been  so  long 
in  making.  All  the  old  "  slides  "  were  filling  in  the 
wounds  and  covering  over  the  scars,   inflicted  during 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        365 

the  past  weeks,  while  the  unmanned  steam  shovels 
stood  powerless  by  and  one  of  them  at  least  was  well- 
nigh  submerged  in  the  avenging  flood.  The  steam 
shovels  stood  by  stock-still,  but  they  were  not  silent 
under  the  provocation.  A  sibilant  hissing  noise  issued 
from  their  boilers  where  the  steam  is  generated  that 
on  working  days  enables  the  shovels  to  eat  into  moun- 
tains as  though  they  were  old  cheeses,  and  hurl  ten- 
ton  boulders  around  as  though  they  were  so  many 
marbles.  I  could  have  borne  with  the  old  "  slides," — 
they  have,  as  it  were,  their  traditional  justification, — 
but  to  see  a  new  "  slide  "  start  as  I  did,  indeed  two  of 
them,  either  one  of  which  might  sooner  or  later  en- 
compass the  overthrow  of  man's  proudest  achieve- 
ment, was  hard  to  bear,  especially  on  a  holiday 
outing. 

The  Cucaracha  is  the  famous  historic  slide,  which 
was  first  heralded  to  the  world,  but  the  men  on  the 
fighting  line,  I  find,  more  greatly  fear  that  moving 
avalanche  more  directly  in  the  cut,  and  which  is  con- 
sequently called  the  Culebra  slide.  The  Cucaracha, 
is,  however,  the  senior  slide,  and  It  began  to  give  the 
French  trouble  In  1884.  It  still  gives  trouble  and 
costs  much  money.  The  cost  of  this  one  pesky  bit  of 
earth  that  won't  sit  up  and  behave  itself  could  have  been 
converted  profitably  Into  quite  a  fleet  of  battleships. 
It  was  at  first  confined  to  a  length  of  eight  hundred 
feet  measured  along  the  line  of  excavation,  but  It  has 
extended  or  expanded  to  Include  the  entire  basin  south 
of  Gold  Hill  for  a  length  of  three  thousand  feet. 
Originally  but  six  acres,  the  Cucaracha  now  covers 
nearly  fifty  acres,  always  moving  restless,  irresistible 
as  the  sea.     Should  the  Culebra  slide  develop  along 


366        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

these  proportions,  say  the  pessimists,  our  present  plan 
of  canal  will  be  defeated. 

Of  course  we  are  taking  big  chances  with  the 
"  slides,"  and  no  one  can  say  with  absolute  certainty 
when  these  avalanches  of  earth  may  reach  the  angle 
of  repose  so  prayerfully  worked  for,  and  which  is  so 
different  in  situations  which  appear  to  be  exactly  sim- 
ilar. If  it  is  to  be  a  fight  to  the  finish,  no  one  can  say 
how  much  It  will  cost,  or  how  long  it  will  take  to  ex- 
tirpate or  remove,  by  excavation,  these  pockets  of 
rotten  earth  of  such  changing  and  uncertain  dimen- 
sions. One  cannot  feel  very  cheerful  when  he  sees, 
or  thinks  he  sees,  at  all  events  when  he  knows  by 
scientific  measurements  which  admit  of  no  denial,  that 
three-quarters  of  a  million  of  cubic  yards  of  earth  are 
moving  directly  towards  the  canal  channel ;  when  he 
learns,  by  the  rudest  and  most  convincing  of  object 
lessons,  that  the  flow  cannot  be  stopped,  at  all  events 
down  to  the  present  never  has  been  stopped,  and  that 
it  will  all  have  to  be  dug  out  sooner  or  later  by  the 
shovel  or  the  dredge. 

So  it  can  be  said  that  the  Culebra  cut,  or  rather  the 
treatment  of  the  "  slides  "  and  the  breaks  in  its  banks, 
has  developed  into  the  uncertain  and  experimental 
feature  of  the  work  and  the  completion  of  the  "  cut," 
as  Colonel  Goethals  has  well  said,  will  also  mark  the 
date  of  the  canal's  completion.  Colonel  Gaillard,  of 
the  Engineers,  who  Is  in  immediate  command  of  the 
forces  that  are  fighting  the  Antean  monster  of  Culebra, 
is  very  anxious  to  get  v/ater  into  the  cut  because  he 
believes  that  the  back-pressure  of  the  water  will  give 
the  ineflScient  banks  greater  stability;  it  Is  also  thought 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        367 

that  the  removal  of  the  railway  with  its  vibration, 
and  the  cessation  of  blasting,  will  bring  relief. 

Down  in  the  bottom  of  the  "  cut "  the  heat  is  swel- 
tering, though  overhead,  on  the  surface  level,  the 
bushes  and  the  few  remaining  trees  are  nodding  and 
bowing  before  the  constant  breeze.  I  staggered  along, 
and  coming,  as  I  did,  to  such  close  quarters  with 
hitherto  almost  unsuspected  forces  in  the  bowels  of 
the  earth,  strange  revelations  were  to  be  expected, 
and  certainly  they  were  not  lacking.  First  of  all,  and 
certainly  to  me  the  most  fearful  and  awful,  was  the 
genesis  of  a  new  slide.  I  saw  two  come  into  being 
in  the  course  of  the  short  walk  which  I  describe.  One 
soon  subsided,  but  the  other,  for  all  I  know,  may  be 
sliding  yet.  It  certainly  was  moving  with  unimpaired 
vigour  many  hours  after  I  witnessed  its  sinister  birth. 

To  me,  in  the  depths  of  the  chasm,  where  at  noon 
it  is  twilight  and  the  burning  heavens  straight  over- 
head alone  are  visible,  at  the  very  foot  of  this  breath- 
less pit  where  the  sullen  dead  heat  reigned,  it  seemed 
passing  strange,  but  it  was  nevertheless  so,  above  and 
not  so  far  away  in  the  breezy  above-sea-level  world 
outside  men  were  playing  ball,  and  men  and  women, 
too,  were  going  to  church,  and  some  of  the  latter 
were  bent  on  staying  to  witness  the  titanic  struggle 
between  the  "  Kangaroos  "  and  another  famous  nine, 
for  the  Isthmian  championship.  As  the  Sunday  train 
passed  out  of  hearing,  on  its  way  to  the  church  reser- 
vation in  Ancon,  where  the  fighting  Parson  prays  and 
also  plays  ball,  the  engineer  blew  his  whistle,  I  hope 
to  warn  track-walkers  and  not  out  of  sheer  animal 
spirits.  Be  this  as  it  may  the  whistle  rang  and  re- 
echoed  shrilly  through   the   cut   and   right  under   my 


368        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

eyes,  and  at  my  feet,  which  were  soon  covered  with  a 
little  avalanche  of  sand,  the  "  slide  "  began.  First 
a  mere  thread  of  sand  it  was,,  then  a  rivulet  of  bulkier 
mass,  soon  a  rock  or  two  was  drawn  into  the  cur- 
rent, and  a  minute  later  I  jumped,  none  too  soon  to 
escape  a  great  boulder,  which,  bereft  of  its  under- 
pinning, came  suddenly  crashing  down  into  the  lower 
level.  In  five  minutes  there  was  work,  and  plenty, 
for  a  steam  shovel  or  two,  and  before  evening  the  new 
slide  had  swept  away  a  railway  siding,  buried  a  steam 
shovel  so  deep  that  it  would  have  to  be  dug  out,  and 
set  back  the  work  of  those  dauntless  men,  who  had 
determined  to  see  the  thing  through,  by  many  a  weary 
back-breaking  day. 

I  fled  this  slide  only  to  stumble  into  another.  Over- 
head now  the  baseball  game  was  waxing  hot,  the 
*'  Kangaroos  "  had  gotten  on  to  the  twirl  of  the  new 
pitcher  from  Colon  and  were  batting  him  all  over  the 
field.  A  tremendous  hit  resounded  down  the  "  cut  " 
from  the  far-away  field,  a  loud  hurrah  "  Go  to  second! 
Come  home!"  from  the  excited  fans,  and  suddenly, 
again  at  my  side,  there  sprang  into  being  another 
slide.  A  little  rivulet  of  restless  earth  seeking  repose, 
which  did  not  subside  for  an  hour  or  more,  by  which 
time  it  had  deposited  some  twenty  tons  or  more  of 
indurated  clay  into  Uncle  Sam's  ditch,  and  by  so  much 
added  to  the  engineers'  cares  and  the  taxpayers' 
burden. 

A  little  further  on,  and  the  earth  grew  suddenly 
strangely  hot  under  foot.  I  looked  down  and  it  seemed 
to  me  I  was  walking  upon  smouldering  coals  or  upon 
a  bed  of  peat  burnt  into  many  colours.  I  had  stumbled 
upon    that    curious    phenomenon    which    the    negroes 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        369 

from  Barbados  and  Jamaica  reported  to  their  bosses, 
a  few  days  before,  as  "  hell  hole  "  or  hell  gate. 
Many  of  the  newspapers  took  it  up,  and  a  large  sec- 
tion of  the  European  Press  was  convinced,  cable- 
graphically  I  suppose,  that  we  had  unearthed  an 
awakening  volcano  in  the  very  track  of  our  four  hun- 
dred million  dollar  waterway.  Indeed,  I  do  not  blame 
the  European  brethren  if  they  reported  what  they  ac- 
tually saw.  I  myself  have  seen  half  a  dozen  volcanoes 
in  Java  (lady's  volcanoes  the  Dutch  call  them,  from 
their  gentle  ways  and  the  fact  that  they  can  easily  be 
visited  by  the  most  Chinese-footed  of  the  fair  sex), 
which  did  not  look  so  volcanic  to  the  untutored  and  un- 
scientific eye.  At  all  events  on  this  day  all  the  ground 
about  was  either  aflame  or  a  smoking,  and,  here  and 
there,  the  earth  had  been  burnt  into  heaps  of  rubbish, 
which  had  taken  on  strange  fantastic  colours.  What- 
ever it  may  be,  and  I  personally  had  not  the  ghost 
of  a  notion,  this  is  not  ordinary  pay-dirt.  But  already 
men,  keen-eyed  deep-delving  geologists  from  whom 
Mother  Earth  cannot  conceal  her  secrets,  have  brushed 
away  the  superstition  of  the  negroes  and  the  theories 
of  the  half-baked  scientists.  It  is  not  the  gate  to  hell 
and  it  is  not  a  destruction  breeding  volcano  we  are 
face  to  face  with,  but  an  interesting  phenomenon, 
which  wise  men  from  all  over  the  world  are  hastening 
to  see.  I  confess  that  the  feature  of  it  that  I  find 
most  interesting,  is  that  the  phenomenon  has  proved 
helpful  rather  than  hurtful  to  the  work  of  exca- 
vation. 

It  happened  in  this  wise,  say  the  geologists.  A 
steam  shovel  or  a  blast,  destroying  better  than  it  knew, 
brought  to  view  and  exposed  to  the  burning  rays  of 


370        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

the  overhead  tropical  sun,  a  great  deposit  of  iron 
pyrites.  A  slow  fire  by  combustion  or  from  the  blast 
was  the  result,  to  which  a  nearby  lying  bed  of  free 
lime  contributed  further  fuel;  to-day  the  fire  smoulders 
in  a  bed  of  lignite  and  as  nothing  is  easier  to  remove 
than  ashes,  strict  orders  have  been  given  to  watch  the 
fire,  but  by  no  means  to  put  it  out;  already  many  hun- 
dred yards  of  what  would  have  been,  but  for  this 
happy  accident  and  the  glowing  kiss  of  the  sun,  stub- 
born spoils,  have  been  incinerated  and  this  cross-sec- 
tion of  burnt-out  earth  displays  more  dissolving  col- 
ours than  ever  did  Joseph's  coat.  Only  steam-shovel 
man  No.  501 1  is  disappointed,  for  when  the 
"  volcano "  was  first  reported  he  offered  Colonel 
Goethals  to  dig  it  out  "  by  the  roots  "  with  his  great 
machine. 

One  hundred  yards  further  on  another  phenomenon 
is  staged.  It  is  not  visible,  however,  to  the  naked  eye 
unless  the  eye  has  the  insight  of  imagination,  but  it  Is 
none  the  less  real  and  none  the  less  formidable  for 
all  that.  We  have  reached  the  bottom  of  the  chasm 
as  it  yawns  to-day.  Here  the  eighty-five-foot  level,  the 
future  level  of  the  canal,  has  been  reached  and  indeed 
surpassed,  the  extra  depth  being  needed,  it  is  said,  for 
a  temporary  or  emergency  drainage  canal.  And  per- 
haps here  the  hole  has  been  dug  deep  as  an  object 
lesson  of  what  Is  yet  to  come  all  along  the  line.  In 
other  words,  it  is  a  reconnaissance  in  force  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  "  cut."  Here  even  the  most  thoughtless 
and  unscientific  toiler  can  get  the  measure  of  the  work 
that  still  awaits  us  and  gird  up  his  loins  for  the 
mighty  sustained  efforts  that  will  yet  be  required  of 
him. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        371 

The  truth  and  the  correctness  of  the  level  reached 
in  this  place  was  ascertained  by  the  most  scientific 
instruments  and  substantially  corroborated  by  half  a 
dozen  others,  including  the  rule  of  thumb  for  which 
most  foremen  of  working  gangs  have  such  a  strong 
partiality.  But  a  day  or  two  later  the  place  did  not 
look  right.  Some  with  the  insight  of  imagination  in 
their  vision  said  the  ground  had  risen  over  night  and 
boldly  asserted  that  they  saw  It  rise  while  they  stood 
there !  When  the  measuring  instruments  were  brought 
science  confirmed  the  imaginative  point  of  view.  The 
bottom  of  the  canal  channel  had  risen  a  foot  in  forty- 
eight  hours,  and  worse  luck!  was  still  rising!  A  feel- 
ing of  superstitious  awe  now  possessed  some  of  the 
men  of  this  particular  working  gang.  Here  was  in- 
deed no  end  of  a  job!  Here  was  an  endless  chain  of 
excavations!  A  prey  to  superstitious  fears  and  pow- 
erless to  continue  on  the  job,  some  of  the  Spaniards 
here  engaged — here  where  they  had  made  an  enviable 
record  for  endurance  and  steadiness,  second  to  no 
men  whether  white  or  black — had  to  be  transferred 
to  less  fantastic  fields  of  labour  and  the  matter-of-fact 
steam-shovel  men  were  called  in  by  the  equally  unemo- 
tional engineers.  The  ditch  was  dug  out  again  "  deep 
and  plenty,"  as  the  steam-shovellers  say,  and  again 
it  filled  out  and  welled  up  to  its  former  level. 

Then  the  wise  men,  responsible  for  the  construction 
of  the  world's  eighth  wonder,  put  on  their  thinking  caps 
and  found  a  very  natural,  if  regrettable,  explanation  of 
the  extraordinary  occurrence.  The  rise  of  the  soil 
in  the  "  cut,"  and  indeed  in  the  bottom  of  the  future 
waterway  in  many  other  places,  was  caused  by  the 
weight  of  the  banks  which  remained  and  the  lateral 


372        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

pressure  which  they  exerted.*  Where  the  height  and 
consequently  the  weight  of  the  adjacent  bank  has  been 
reduced,  the  alarming  bulge  ceases  and  the  bed  of  the 
canal  stays  dug.  Still  this  topping  of  the  side  crests 
or  embankments  in  many  places  is  costing  another 
pretty  penny. 

It  is  well  to  bear  this  In  mind  and  also  to  remember 
that  when  you  look  into  the  totals  of  the  "  cut,"  the 
tale  is  not  so  tragic  as  are  some  of  the  details.  Bar- 
ring a  catastrophe,  the  "  cut "  will  be  completed  early 
in  19 13,  nine  months  from  now,  and  thanks  to  the 
unforeseen  slides  we  will  then  have  excavated  twenty 
million  cubic  yards  more  than  we  bargained  for.  For- 
tunately, however,  the  cost  price  of  the  excavation 
that  we  did  foresee  has  been  so  much  smaller  than  we 
had  any  reason  to  hope  it  would  be,  that  though  we 
will  have  dug  twenty  million  cubic  yards  more  than  we 
counted  upon,  the  work  is  still  within,  and  well  within, 
the  estimated  cost. 

In  so  far  as  it  is  permitted  to  the  human  finite  eye 
to  spy  into  the  future  to-day,  this  the  greatest  work 
of  man  since  his  activities  began  is  eighty  per  cent, 
completed.  To-day  some  of  the  great  water-gates 
through  which  the  argosies  of  the  future  are  to  pass 
into  the  south  and  eastern  seas  are  completed  and 
ajar,  the  light-houses  at  either  entrance  and  the  range 
lights  within,  so  many  beckoning  beacons,  flash  out 
their  invitation,  calling  attention,  like  so  many  gigan- 
tic electric  signs,  to  the  new  route  of  commerce  soon 
to  be  thrown  open  to  the  world.     In  the  lake  reservoir 

•Observers  are  losing  faith  in  the  "angle  of  repose"  doctrine  and 
the  "slides"  are  assigned  by  many  to  the  same  causes  which  are 
given  here  for  the  rising  of  the  soil. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        373 

the  precious  indispensable  water  is  rising  nearly  an 
inch  a  day  and  the  "  cut  "  section  of  the  work  is  only 
dry  because  of  a  slender  strip  of  earth  or  dike,  at 
Matachin,  a  strip  of  earth  which  a  steam-shovel  could 
devour  in  less  than  half  a  day. 

To-day,  for  the  first  time  in  eight  years,  the  un- 
doubted progress  of  the  great  work  is  apparent.  Up 
to  now  progress  was  a  matter  for  cold  careful  scien- 
tific calculation,  to-day  it  is  a  matter  of  ocular  demon- 
stration. Formerly  you  could,  of  course,  see  the  dirt 
fly,  but  the  plot  was  so  carefully  concealed  that  the 
good  of  the  flying  dirt  was  really  a  matter  of  faith. 
To-day,  however,  not  only  is  eighty  per  cent,  of  the 
work  completed,  but  the  end  is  in  sight.  The  canal 
has  taken  shape  and  the  purposeful  coordination  of 
all  the  detached  works  and  isolated  workers  jumps  to 
the  eye  of  the  most  short-sighted  tourist.  Hardly  a 
week  passes  without  "  finished  "  being  written  upon 
some  important  fraction  of  the  work. 

Barring  some  great  and  unforeseen  catastrophe,  all 
the  masonry  and  the  concrete  will  be  completed  by 
January  i,  19 13.  By  July,  next  year,  the  air-  and 
water-tight  gates,  which  are  to  hold  and  control  the 
floods  of  the  Chagres,  will  be  ready  to  perform  their 
vital  functions  in  the  working  of  the  canal.  Three 
gates  are  already  completed  and,  In  operation,  have 
been  subjected  to  severe  tests.  Indeed  by  this  date, 
July,  1 9 13,  the  whole  canal  proper  should  be  com- 
pleted and  there  Is  every  reason  to  believe  it  will  be. 
The  terminals  may  not  be  ready,  and  the  back-filling  / 
of  these  gigantic  concrete  castles,  which  the  engineers 
call  locks  may  lag  behind,  but  all  these  ragged  edges 
will  have  been  gathered  up  and  smoothed  out  long  be- 


374        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

fore  the  date  of  the  official  opening  in  19 15.  To-day 
the  railway  yards  at  Balboa  are  being  transferred  to 
make  room  for  the  permanent  dry-dock  and  basin  on 
the  Pacific  side.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  is  the  last 
transfer  of  this  vagrant  railway,  which,  though  it  en- 
joys the  shortest  route  across  the  continent,  has  had 
its  roadbed  changed  so  frequently  that  if  all  the  con- 
struction work  on  the  Panama  line  had  been  permanent 
it  would  reach  from  the  Isthmus  to  Patagonia,  and 
form  one  of  the  longest  railways  in  the  world. 

The  dry-dock  will  be  a  thousand  feet  long  and  the 
first  terminal  pier,  which  is  now  well  under  way,  will 
have  the  same  length  and  be  about  two  hundred  feet 
wide.  The  two  great  coaling  stations,  one  at  Cristo- 
bal on  the  Atlantic,  and  the  other  at  Balboa  on  the 
Pacific,  will  be  ready  for  their  grimy  work  some  time 
before  they  will  be  needed.  The  lake  is  filling  and 
the  water  will  be  permitted  to  rise  until  the  fifty-foot 
level  is  reached.  At  this  level  in  the  lake  the  "  cut " 
and  the  locks  will  still  remain  high  and  dry  until 
July,  19 13,  when,  if  all  goes  well,  the  great  deluge 
will  be  inaugurated,  as  quietly  as  possible,  of  course. 
There  will  be  a  dramatic  moment,  doubtless,  when 
the  steam-shovels  eat  away  the  earthwork  at  Matachin, 
and  the  water  rushes  into  the  "  cut  "  and  the  lower 
levels  which  it  has  cost  so  much  hitherto  to  keep  dry. 
But  engineers  shun  drama,  and  the  water  rush  will 
be  contrived,  as  quietly  as  possible,  probably  by 
sluices.  What  will  be  the  actual  status  of  the  water- 
way after  this  critical  moment  is  passed,  no  one  can 
say  with  precision,  but  it  is  hoped,  and  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  in  a  very  few  weeks  sea-going  dredges  will 
have  dug  out  many  of  the  remaining  shoal  places  and 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        375 

that,  from  this  time  on,  freighters  of  medium  tonnage 
will  accomplish  the  transit  of  the  Isthmus  without 
difficulty. 

The  Atlantic  side  breakwater,  stretching  far  out 
into  Limon  Bay,  affording  the  ships  from  the  North 
Atlantic  and  the  oft-vexed  Caribbean  a  safe  and  smooth 
refuge,  is  practically  finished,  and  the  mammoth 
breakwater  on  the  Pacific  side,  from  Balboa  out  to 
Naos  Island,  nearly,  if  not  quite,  three  miles  long,  is, 
thanks  to  the  spoils  from  the  Culebra  cut,  growing 
into  an  ocean  promontory  with  marvellous  rapidity. 
A  wonderfully  safe  harbour  is  the  result,  and  some 
think  an  ideal  naval  base,  until  the  dawn  of  the  day 
when  all  that  sort  of  thing  can  be  thrown  away  into 
the  rubbish  heap. 

None  too  soon  are  Congress  *  and  the  Press  occupy- 
ing themselves  with  the  important  details  of  the  per- 
manent organisation  and  government  of  the  canal, 
for  unless  all  signs  should  prove  deceptive  and  the 
hopes  of  conservative  observers  prove  unfounded,  in 
the  early  winter  of  19 13,  while  the  canal  may  yet  be 
far  from  completed,  as  it  is  proposed  to  build  it,  yet 
the  two  oceans,  long  asunder,  will  be  joined  by  a  gated 
waterway,  freighters  will  be  passing  through,  and  the 
conquest  of  the  centuries,  a  dream  of  five  centuries  at 
least,  will  have  become  an  accomplished  fact,  and 
soon,  very  soon,  merely  a  humdrum  milestone  in  the 
path  of  man's  progress. 

Along  the  way  which  the  old  navigators  dreamed 
of  and  knew  must  be  achieved,  the  new  navigators  will 
penetrate  the  South  Seas  and  the  search  for  the  west- 
ern route  to  the  Far  East,  which  shaped  history  and, 

*  See  Appendix,  page  473. 


376        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

incidentally  peopled  the  Americas,  will  have  ended. 
But  the  new  lands,  which  the  new  route  makes  acces- 
sible and  even  brings  near  to  our  main  travelled  roads, 
are  lands  which  the  old  navigators  never  dreamed  of, 
and  here,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  place  to  dwell  upon 
the  epoch-making  feature  of  our  work,  that  triumph 
of  sanitation  which  has  made  the  construction  of  the 
canal  and  residence  on  the  Isthmus,  not  only  possible, 
but  even  pleasant. 

The  far-reaching  effects  of  this  successful  sanitary 
campaign  cannot  be  over-estimated,  indeed,  I  fear, 
with  our  old-fashioned  ideas,  which  sad  experience  has 
instilled  into  our  minds  of  how  costly,  in  human  lives, 
was  the  conquest  of  the  tropics,  when  attempted  by 
the  individual,  we  cannot  estimate  it  at  all.  But  let 
us,  at  least,  recall  that,  had  the  canal  been  completed 
twenty  years  ago,  people  would  still  have  passed 
through  it  with  bated  breath  and  grave  anxiety,  some 
indeed,  with  medicated  handkerchiefs  before  their  nos- 
trils. It  is  certain  that  the  transit  of  the  Isthmus  was 
then  regarded  as  an  exceedingly  dangerous  and  un- 
pleasant stage  in  the  journey  to  the  promised  lands 
beyond.  To-day,  however,  thanks  to  the  new  science 
of  sanitation  and  its  apostles,  who  have  risen  from  the 
ranks  in  our  army  medical  corps,  the  promised  lands 
lie  near  at  hand,  and  those  who  seek  them  are  not 
scourged  by  pest  and  pestilence.  I  have  had  the 
honour  and  the  advantage  of  talking  upon  this  mo- 
mentous subject  on  several  occasions  with  Colonel 
.Gorgas,  the  man,  who,  despite  his  many  modest  pro- 
tests, has  contributed  to  this  proud  result  more  than 
any  other  man.  He  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  con- 
quest of  the  tropics  has  been  attained,   and  that,   in 


THE  CONQUEST  OF  THE  ISTHMUS        377 

consequence,  vast  economic  changes  are  impending. 
He  believes  firmly  that  within  a  period  of  time,  long 
indeed,  when  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  a  man's 
life,  but  short  enough  when  compared  with  the  other 
historical  epochs  of  the  world,  in  a  near  future,  as 
history  marks  its  periods,  the  centres  of  population 
and  the  most  flourishing  civilisation  will  be  found 
dwelling  and  flourishing  within  the  confines  of  those 
very  lands  so  long  shunned,  at  least  so  far  as  our  race 
is  concerned,  by  all  save  the  adventurer  and  the  out- 
cast. Colonel  Gorgas,  with  characteristic  modesty,  in 
a  recent  address  to  a  medical  society,  put  his  claim 
and  his  prophecy  in  the  following  simple  words: 

"  We,  therefore,  believe  that  sanitary  work  on  the 
Isthmus  will  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  the  white 
man  can  live  and  work  in  any  part  of  the  tropics  and 
maintain  good  health,  and  that  the  settling  of  the 
tropics,  by  the  Caucasian,  will  date  from  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Panama  Canal." 

In  a  word,  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  the 
conquest  of  the  Isthmus  will  not  merely  bring  the 
Caribbean  countries,  so  long  side-tracked,  upon  the 
centre  of  the  stage,  and  exert  a  far-reaching  influence 
upon  the  world's  channels  of  commerce  and  transpor- 
tation routes.  Clearly,  on  the  day  now  so  near,  when 
the  water-gates  of  Panama  shall  be  thrown  wide  open 
and  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  joined  by  the  genius 
and  the  industry  of  man,  there  will  be  revealed  to  the 
least  observant  eye  the  dawn  of  a  new  and  most  in- 
teresting era  in  the  progress  of  our  race. 

In  the  conclusion  of  the  canal,  the  future  historian 
will  doubtless  see  the  point  of  departure  for  economic 


378        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  sociological  chances  and  developments,  which  it 
would  be  folly  to  attempt  to  outline  here  and  now. 
The  sanitation  of  the  Isthmus,  the  making  healthy 
that  plague-spot,  famous  during  five  centuries  as  a 
barrier  and  a  scourge  to  civilisation,  is  but  the  first 
victory  in  a  campaign  for  the  fuller  utilisation  of  the 
riches  of  the  tropics,  from  the  enjoyment  of  which 
men  of  our  race  have,  hitherto,  been  excluded  or  only 
enjoyed  while  taking  fearful  risks  and  paying  a  heavy 
tribute  of  valuable  lives. 


i^r 


379 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
The  Usufruct  of  the  West  Indies 

The  story  of  the  West  Indies  is  the  story  of  the 
sugar  industry.  As  far  back  as  the  year  1600  there 
were  thirty  large  sugar-works  in  operation  in  Cuba, 
and  wherever  in  this  new  world  that  has  become  the 
American  Mediterranean  settlers  went,  the  cultiva- 
tion of  sugar-cane  spread  rapidly.  The  growth  of 
the  beet-root  industry  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  en- 
couraged by  Napoleon,  in  the  hope  of  ruining  the 
British  West  Indies,  which  he  had  failed  to  conquer 
by  force  of  arms,  was  growing  apace,  and  filled  with 
menace,  but  perhaps  the  first  serious  trouble  which 
the  Creole  planters  had  to  face  was  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  in  the  English  colonies,  in  1834. 

At  this  time  the  estates  and  the  slaves  living  on 
them  had  an  estimated  value,  according  to  the  re- 
port of  the  Royal  Commission,  of  about  $1,100,- 
000,000,  and  the  compensation  of  something  under 
$100,000,000  which  was  granted  to  slave-owners  was, 
of  course,  inadequate  to  reimburse  them  even  for  the 
direct  losses  suffered.  For  a  time  the  West  Indian 
planters  were  successful  in  having  a  prohibitive  tariff 
imposed  in  the  United  Kingdom  upon  all  slave-grown 
sugar.  These  differential  duties,  however,  were  grad- 
ually lowered  in  deference  to  the  catching  political 
cry,  which  began  to  be  heard — "  A  cheap  breakfast- 
table  for  the  British  working  man,"  and  after  1850, 

379 


38o        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

slave-grown  sugar  was  admitted  on  the  same  terms 
as  free-grown  sugar  and  many  of  the  English  planters 
went  into  bankruptcy. 

The  abolition  of  slavery  in  Cuba  did  not  bring 
about  the  immediate  improvement  that  had  been  there 
anticipated.  The  beet-root-sugar  Industry,  stimulated 
by  a  system  of  bounties  which  the  West  Indian  planter 
found  most  pernicious,  had  developed  with  such 
rapid  strides  that  the  continental  beet-root  could  be 
placed  on  the  British  market  cheaper  than  the  West 
Indian  product.  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
about  1898,  these  bounties,  which  the  continental  pow- 
ers were  paying  to  the  growers  of  beet-root  and  which 
amounted  to  from  $5  to  $20  a  ton,  were  supple- 
mented by  the  formation  of  cartels  or  holding  syndi- 
cates, which  drove  the  price  of  sugar  in  Great  Britlan 
far  below  the  cost  of  production.  Entrenched  behind 
tariff  walls,  these  cartels  or  trusts,  which  consisted  of 
sugar  producers  and  manufacturers,  working  in  har- 
mony to  the  detriment  of  the  consumer,  were  able  to 
charge  the  consumer  in  their  home  market  such  a  high 
price  for  his  sugar  as  permitted  them  to  dump  the 
balance  of  their  output  anywhere  else  in  the  world 
at  a  considerable  loss  and  yet  realise  a  substantial  profit 
upon  their  business  as  a  whole.  Of  course,  an  active 
campaign  was  carried  on  by  the  sugar-growing  in- 
terests in  the  West  Indies  against  the  bounty  system 
and,  as  a  result  of  prolonged  agitation,  several  con- 
ferences of  an  international  character  were  held.  On 
March  5,  1902,  an  arrangement  was  finally  reached, 
and  at  the  conference  In  Brussels  a  convention  was 
signed  by  the  principal  sugar-producing  powers,  agree- 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     381 

ing  to  abolish  bounties  and  to  render  more  difficult 
the  formation  of  trusts  and  cartels. 

Having  secured  equality  of  opportunity,  at  least 
in  the  British  market,  the  West  Indian  sugar  industry 
has  shown  considerable  development  and  improve- 
ment.* There  are  two  principal  methods  of  sugar- 
making  in  the  West  Indies.  The  ancient  Muscovado 
process,  still  in  vogue  on  the  small  estates,  often  with 
power  supplied  by  windmills,  as  I  have  seen  it  in  Bar- 
bados and  other  islands,  produces  the  old-fashioned 
brown  sugars,  dear  to  the  memory  of  childhood's  days. 
The  other  and  more  modern  method  is  the  vacuum- 
pan  process,  which  produces  the  "  Demerara  crystals." 

There  is  a  very  great  sameness  in  sugar-cane  culti- 
vation, and  the  very  material  difference  in  the  value 
of  the  crops  in  the  different  islands  seems  to  depend 
almost  entirely  upon  the  inherent  richness  and  suit- 
ability of  the  soil.  The  sugar-canes  are  grown  from 
cuttings  of  the  mature  canes,  and  they  take  from 
twelve  to  eighteen  months  to  reach  maturity.  They 
are  then  cut  down  with  cutlasses,  trimmed  and  con- 
veyed to  the  mill,  which  consists  in  the  case  of  the 
small  Muscovado  factories  of  but  three  rollers,  the 
power  being  supplied  by  horizontal  steam  engines,  an 
old-fashioned  beam  engine,  or  by  windmill  as  I  have 
mentioned  above.  The  dirty,  greenish-looking  juice 
which  is  pressed  out  by  the  rollers  is  heated  up  to  the 
desired  temperature  and  flows  into  a  tank  called  a 
clarifier,  where  it  is  mixed  with  a  certain  amount  of 
lime  to  cleanse  it  of  impurities.     The  clear  juice  then 

*  In  June,  1912,  despite  vigorous  protests  from  the  insular  gov- 
ernments and  commercial  bodies,  the  British  Government  with- 
drew from  the  Brussels  Sugar  Convention. 


382        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

flows  down  into  a  series  of  three  or  four  large  open 
copper  tanks,  in  which  the  process  of  evaporation 
takes  place  over  fires,  which  are  fed  by  the  crushed 
cane,  which,  dried  in  the  sun,  proves  useful  as  fuel. 
By  the  time  the  juice  has  reached  the  third  pan,  the 
process  of  evaporation  is  generally  completed.  It  is 
then  ladled  out  and  poured  into  large,  square  boxes, 
called  coolers,  and  allowed  to  crystallise.  As  soon 
as  it  becomes  solid,  the  juice,  which  is  now  sugar,  is 
dug  out  and  placed  in  large,  wooden  hogsheads,  with 
perforated  bottoms,  and  these  are  then  rolled  to  what 
is  known  as  the  stanchion  room.  Here  the  hogs- 
heads are  left  for  two  or  three  weeks,  during  which 
time  the  uncrystallised  sugar,  or  molasses,  runs  out 
into  the  tank  below.  The  cask  is  then  headed  up  and 
the  sugar  ready  for  shipment. 

The  vacuum-pan  process,  which  produces  the  "  Dem- 
erara  "  crystals,  is  much  more  intricate.  Here  the  canes 
are  placed  on  the  cane  carrier,  an  endless  belt  which 
conveys  them  direct  to  the  mill.  Once  there  they  are 
crushed  under  a  succession  of  rollers,  often  as  many 
as  three  sets,  which  thus  form  a  nine-roller  mill.  The 
crushed  cane  is  then  removed  on  another  carrier  direct 
to  the  furnaces,  which  have  been  especially  contrived 
to  burn  the  green  stuff  or  refuse,  thus  obviating  the 
necessity  of  drying  it  in  the  sun.  Of  course,  by  this 
intense  pressing  process  which  the  nine-roller  mill  per- 
mits, a  very  much  higher  percentage  of  saccharine  mat- 
ter is  secured  from  the  cane.  I  believe  this  increase 
often  amounts  to  as  much  as  fifty  per  cent.  However, 
the  construction  of  a  mill  on  this  system  implies  the 
expenditure  of  at  least  $300,000  and  more  often  the 
expenses  run  to  a  million.     Owing  to  this  heavy  de- 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     383 

mand  upon  capital,  and  other  uncertainties  inherent 
to  the  sugar  industry,  the  old  Muscovado  mills  still 
survive  and  refuse  to  cease  grinding.  Indeed,  it  is 
only  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  British  Guiana  that 
the  modern  mills  predominate.  In  the  modern  mills 
the  juice  is  pumped  into  clarifying  tanks  and  then 
treated  very  much  as  in  the  old  process.  The  pure 
juice,  once  secured,  is  drawn  through  pipes  into  an 
apparatus  for  economical  evaporation,  which  is  diffi- 
cult to  describe  and  of  which  there  are  many  varia- 
tions. After  coming  out  of  the  evaporation  vessels, 
the  syrup,  as  the  juice  is  now  called,  is  transferred  to 
the  vacuum-pan,  in  which  it  is  boiled  at  a  low  tempera- 
ture until  granulation  sets  in,  this  important  process 
being  watched  through  a  small  glass  window,  the 
progress  being  tested  every  now  and  then  by  a  proof- 
stick  inserted  into  the  pan  and  withdrawn  with  a 
sample  of  the  liquor.  The  contents  of  the  pan  are 
now  transferred  to  large  drums  with  perforated  sides, 
which  are  made  to  revolve  very  rapidly,  it  is  said  a 
thousand  times  to  the  minute.  The  result  is  that  the 
molasses  is  driven  out  of  the  drums  by  centrifugal 
force,  leaving  the  sugar  behind,  which  is  mixed  to  se- 
cure uniformity  of  grade  and  colour,  packed  in  bags, 
and  is  then  ready  for  shipment. 

Pending  the  development  of  the  fruit  trade,  an- 
other panacea  has  been  proposed  for  the  deplorable 
West  Indian  conditions,  at  least  as  far  as  the  British 
islands  are  concerned.  It  is  some,  almost  any,  form 
of  reciprocity  with  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  So  far, 
however,  the  discussion  has  not  resulted  in  permanent 
legislation.  This  whole  question  of  reciprocity  and 
preferential  tariff  is  probably  dependent  upon  the  out- 


384        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

come  of  the  political  struggle  in  England,  Should  the 
Unionist  party,  which  favours,  though  not  in  the  most 
outspoken  way,  preferential  tariff  schedules  between 
the  home  country  and  the  colonies,  and  between  the 
great  autonomous  colonies  themselves,  come  into 
power,  a  new  and  a  very  important  factor  will  enter 
into  the  solution  of  the  West  Indian  problem,  at  least 
as  far  as  the  British  possessions  are  concerned.  In 
any  event,  the  wide-spread  interest  taken  in  the  pro- 
posed tariff  changes  was  clearly  indicated  by  the 
appointment,  by  the  King,  of  a  Royal  Commission  to 
investigate  the  whole  question  and  report  upon  its 
possibilities.  The  Commission  is  even  now  visiting 
the  islands.  From  speeches  made  by  its  members  it 
is  thought  that  the  Commission  will  recommend  some 
scheme  of  preferential  tariff  within  the  Empire. 

Whatever  may  be  the  results  of  the  political  struggle 
in  England,  involving  as  it  does  the  question  of  tariffs, 
or  the  recommendations  of  the  Royal  Commission 
after  it  has  concluded  its  investigations,  it  is  high  time 
to  recognise  that  Canadian  enterprise  and  Canadian 
capital  have  become  important  factors  in  the  develop- 
ment of  these  islands  so  long  neglected.  It  is  perhaps 
natural  that  Canadian  banks  and  Canadian  commer- 
cial houses,  after  having  developed  so  vigorously  at 
home,  should  extend  to  the  adjacent  British  islands, 
but  this  explanation  of  natural  growth  and  affinity 
cannot  be  given  for  the  undoubted  preponderance  of 
Canadian  influence  in  the  backing  of  new  enterprises 
in  Cuba  and  perhaps  also  in  Porto  Rico,  though  here 
the  figures  are  not  nearly  so  decisive  as  they  are  in  the 
larger  island. 

The  great  obstacle  to  the  reciprocal  tariff  arrange- 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     385 

ment  between  the  islands  and  the  Dominion  would 
prove  to  be,  in  my  opinion,  the  fruit  trade  with  the 
United  States,  which  is  proving  enormously  profitable 
to  fruit-growers  as  well  as  to  that  great  corporation 
which  carries  on  the  bulk  of  the  business.  Jamaica 
(and  these  views,  I  believe,  are  held  In  several  of  the 
other  islands  which  have  entered  or  hope  to  enter 
upon  a  large  scale  in  the  production  of  fruit)  believes 
that  a  bird  in  the  hand  is  worth  two  in  the  bush  and 
that  the  possibilities  of  Canadian  trade  are  not  to  be 
compared  with,  and  most  assuredly  not  to  be  ex- 
changed for,  the  profitable  certainties  that  the  United 
States  markets  afford.  The  Jamaican  press  and  other 
Jamaican  spokesmen,  whether  authorised  or  not  it  is 
difficult  to  say,  are  exceedingly  non-committal  and 
lukewarm  on  the  subject  of  closer  relations  with  the 
Dominion.  It  Is  natural  that  they  should  see  the  dan- 
gers to  their  new-born  prosperity  which  the  new  tariff 
policy  seems   to   presage. 

Of  course,  even  between  cousins  you  get  little  for 
sixpence  and  nothing  for  nothing.  The  entrance  of 
West  Indian  fruits  into  the  Canadian  markets  upon 
conditions  which  would  afford  them  a  monopoly, 
would  have  to  be  recognised  and  reciprocated  by  con- 
cessions on  Canadian  lumber,  breadstuffs,  and  shirt- 
ings. This  would,  as  the  Jamaicans  are  Intelligent 
enough  to  see,  affect  very  vitally  and  unfavourably 
some  of  the  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States. 
Congress  might,  as  a  result,  feel  inclined  to  levy  a 
duty  of  a  couple  of  cents  on  bunches  of  bananas  and 
boxes  of  oranges,  and  that  would  be  the  end  of  the 
Jamaican  fruit  trade  as  far  as  Its  development  on  our 
side  of  the  ocean  Is  concerned.    There  are  other  West 


386        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

Indians  besides  the  Jamaicans  who  regard  the  possi- 
bility of  giving  up  the  American  for  the  Canadian 
market  with  increasing  apprehension.  They  question, 
perhaps  with  reason,  the  capacity  of  the  Dominion 
for  the  present  and  for  many  years  to  come,  at  least, 
to  absorb  all  the  West  Indian  products  for  which  a 
market  would  have  to  be  secured.  They  also  argue 
that  there  is  no  way  of  securing  a  reciprocal  arrange- 
ment between  the  colonies  without  bringing  about  a 
small  tariff  war  with  the  United  States  which,  how- 
ever unimportant  it  might  seem  in  Washington,  would 
lead  to  widespread  distress  and  even  suffering  in  the 
West  Indies. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written,  the  Royal  Com- 
mission has  published  its  painstaking  and  exhaustive 
report,  but  no  legislation  has  followed.  The  Cana- 
dian Pacific  Railway  has  offered  to  establish  a  line  of 
steamers  between  West  Indian  and  Dominion  ports 
if  a  small  subsidy,  to  be  voted  in  equal  shares  by 
Canada  and  the  islands,  is  forthcoming. 

While  continuing  to  meet  with  much  opposition,  the 
plan  of  a  West  Indian  union  or  confederation,  pre- 
viously referred  to,  is  by  no  means  abandoned.  The 
plan  of  Mr.  C.  Gideon  Murray,  administrator  of  the 
island  of  St.  Vincent,  is  at  this  moment  under  general 
discussion.  It  is  frequently  pointed  out  as  a  weak- 
ness of  this  project  of  union  that,  as  Mr.  Murray 
admits,  "  No  provision  is  made  for  funds  to  enable 
the  Federal  Council  to  carry  out  the  common  services 
over  which  it  would  have  deliberative  and  legislative 
powers,  such  as  steamer  subsidies,  fisheries,  etc." 

This  omission  has  undoubtedly  been  made  by  de- 
sign.    As  long  as  the  interests  of  the  West  Indian 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     387 

islands  and  the  mainland  colonies,  such  as  Guiana  and 
Honduras,  remain  as  divergent,  not  to  say  as  antago- 
nistic, as  they  are  to-day,  fiscal  and  political  union  is 
impossible  save  as  a  hollow  sham;  and,  as  far  as  my 
information  goes,  all  attempts  to  bring  it  about  are 
viewed  by  the  majority  of  the  intelligent  men  in  the 
islands  with  disapproval  and  with  considerable  un- 
easiness. 

Bananas  are  exported  from  many  of  the  islands, 
but  principally  from  Trinidad,  Jamaica,  and  Barbados. 
In  Jamaica  the  industry,  which  is  less  than  thirty 
years  of  age,  has  assumed  enormous  proportions.  In 
the  seventies  Captain  Baker,  a  Cape  Cod  man  and 
master  of  a  schooner,  trading  between  Kingston  and 
Boston,  got  into  the  habit  of  carrying  home  to  his 
friends  on  every  voyage  a  few  bunches  of  bananas. 
They  kept  very  well,  the  trade  grew,  and  has  now 
assumed  proportions  of  no  less  than  seventeen  million 
bunches  every  year.  Captain  Baker's  gifts  were  the 
little  beginnings  of  the  United  Fruit  Company,  which 
to-day  has  grown  into  a  gigantic  corporation  with  over 
a  hundred  steamers  flying  its  flag  and  with  most  ex- 
tensive plantations  in  many  of  the  West  Indian  islands 
and  in  Surinam  and  Costa  Rica  and  many  other  coun- 
tries of  the  mainland.  Sugar  was  the  key  to  the  West 
Indian  situation  fifty  years  ago,  but  to-day  it  is  fruit. 
The  example  of  the  American  company  has  found 
many  imitators  and  followers.  There  are  several 
British  fruit  companies  and  as  a  result  the  dietary  of 
the  British  islanders  is  undergoing  great  changes. 
Ten  years  ago  I  remember  paying,  in  London,  six 
shillings  for  a  very  indifferent  pineapple;  to-day,  in 
season,  you  can  get  the  best  for  sixpence  apiece. 


388        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

In  1900,  the  Imperial  Direct  West  Indian  Mail 
Service  Company  was  formed  and  granted  a  subsidy 
of  $200,000  a  year,  for  ten  years,  to  buy  and  carry 
20,000  bunches  of  bananas  every  week  from  Jamaica 
to  the  United  Kingdom.  All  the  expected  difficulties 
have  been  overcome  and  the  quantity  of  fruit  now 
lost  is  infinitesimal.  There  is  another  line  of  steamers, 
which  has  no  less  than  thirteen  vessels  constantly  en- 
gaged In  bringing  fruit  to  England  from  Jamaica  and 
Costa  Rica  as  fast  as  it  can  be  carried.  There  seems 
no  reason  why  the  market  on  the  continent  should 
not  be  developed  as  successfully  as  it  has  been  in  the 
United  States  and  In  the  United  Kingdom.  There 
seems  little  reason  to  doubt,  if  the  fruit  crop  were 
properly  and  promptly  distributed,  its  potential  value 
would  far  exceed  the  value  of  the  sugar  output  even 
In  the  years  when  sugar  was  king.  This  hope  Is  the 
saving  plank  in  the  West  Indian  situation  and  It  has 
floated  into  view  none  too  soon.  In  islands  where  once 
a  brilliant  civilisation  flourished  there  were  signs  of 
returning  savagery  and  the  excellent  colonial  system 
of  government  In  the  English  islands  had  been  fre- 
quently denounced  in  the  House  of  Commons  as  being 
far  too  expensive  for  countries  that  could  not  pay 
their  way. 

The  Jamaica  banana,  which  we  eat  In  the  United 
States,  Is  the  variety  known  as  the  Gros  Michel.  The 
bunches  are  cut  when  the  fruit  is  only  three-quarters 
full  and  when  the  bananas  leave  Jamaica  they  are 
still  quite  green  and  only  turn  yellow  on  their  journey 
north.  Our  market  prefers  this  fruit  to  the  smaller, 
dwarfed  bananas  which,  grown  In  Barbados  and  else- 
where,  are   generally  known  as  the   Canary  banana. 


The   Water-Gates  at  Gatun 


L 


The   Gatun  Locks  and   Cofferdam  Keeping   out   the   Atlantic   Tides 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     389 

These  varieties  were  an  ancient  cultivation;  in  the 
days  of  Pere  Labat,  the  larger  and  perhaps  coarser 
banana  was  known  as  the  bananier  and  the  smaller  as 
the  figuier.  The  Jamaica  variety  grows  to  a  great 
height,  frequently  twenty  feet  and  sometimes  twenty- 
four.  The  tree  is  cultivated  from  suckers,  which 
spring  from  the  root  when  the  tree  is  cut  down  and 
the  fruit  gathered.  The  banana-tree  only  carries  one 
bunch,  and  this  requires  about  twelve  months'  time 
to  reach  the  stage  at  which  it  is  fit  to  be  gathered  for 
distant  markets.  The  bunches,  before  they  are 
shipped,  are  carefully  checked  as  to  size,  a  full-sized 
or  straight  bunch  having  at  least  nine  hands  or  groups 
of  from  fifteen  to  twenty  "  fingers  "  each — the  bunches 
are  measured  by  hands  like  horses.  These  large 
bunches,  of  course,  fetch  the  highest  prices.  A  bunch 
of  bananas  often  attains  the  great  weight  of  120 
pounds,  perhaps  more,  and  the  negroes  soon  tire  of 
carrying  them  on  board  ship,  as  they  well  might. 

Nothing  could  be  more  remarkable  than  the  changed 
value  of  this  fruit  in  the  last  ten  years;  then,  prac- 
tically, bananas  where  they  were  grown  had  no  value 
at  all — you  could  help  yourself,  you  had  earned  them, 
it  seemed,  by  taking  the  trouble  to  pick  them.  Now 
the  severest  punishments  are  meted  out  to  poachers 
in  the  banana  plantations.  On  my  last  visit  to  Jamaica 
and  at  Mandeville  I  saw  a  negro  receive  fifty  lashes 
for  having  stolen  a  bunch  of  bananas,  prsedial  lar- 
ceny as  it  is  called.  He  had  been  suspected  before,  but 
had  always  escaped  conviction.  The  constabulary, 
who  police  this  island  so  well  on  horseback  and  on 
foot,  whenever  they  meet  a  suspicious-looking  darky 
bearing  a  burden  of  bananas,  ask  him  where  he  got 


390        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

it,  and  the  darky  must  lead  the  way  to  the  tree  that 
bore  the  fruit.  It  would  seem  strange  to  the  un- 
initiated, but  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  though  thou- 
sands of  bunches  are  cut  off  the  same  day  in  the  same 
plantation  and  with  the  same  cutlasses,  no  bunch  will 
fit  on  to  any  other  stalk  than  that  one  upon  which  it 
has  grown  to  maturity.  This  is  as  delicate  a  science 
as  is  the  study  of  the  thumb  prints  of  criminals,  and 
the  grasp  upon  it  which  the  Jamaican  constabulary 
now  have  is  a  great  misfortune  to  the  banana-loving 
darkies.  In  every  police  station  throughout  the  island 
they  have  a  huge  iron  drum,  that  looks  very  much  like 
a  land-roller,  and  upon  this  the  culprit,  upon  con- 
viction, is  placed,  his  wrists  and  ankles  cuffed,  and  he 
receives  his  whipping  with  heartrending  shrieks  and 
promises  of  amendment. 

The  development  of  the  fruit  trade  is  a  boon  to  all 
classes  in  the  United  States  and,  with  its  further  de- 
velopment, will  become  a  blessing  to  all  the  world. 
But  it  has  its  dark  side  and  it  is  the  Jamaican  peasant, 
who  formerly  could  eat  as  many  bananas  as  he  pleased, 
who  dwells  in  this  shadow.  Not  all  the  West  Indian 
lands  are  available  for  banana  cultivation — far  from 
it.  The  soil  must  be  deep  and  red  or  it  is  soon  ex- 
hausted and  the  plantation  dwindles  and  withers  be- 
fore it  has  paid  for  the  cost  of  setting  it  out. 

A  hundred  years  ago  the  West  Indies  were  the 
chief  source  of  the  English  cotton  supply,  but  owing  to 
the  increased  cultivation  of  the  plant  in  America, 
prices  fell  to  such  a  low  level  that  the  West  Indian 
planters  gave  it  up  and  went  in  exclusively  for  sugar; 
now,  however,  there  is  on  foot  a  movement  to  replant 
cotton.     It  took  form  and  substance  after  the  serious 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     391 

shortage  of  the  cotton  crop  in  the  Southern  States  in 
1902  and  the  resultant  famine  in  Lancashire.  About 
this  time  the  British  Cotton  Growing  Association  was 
formed  in  Manchester  to  promote  the  growth  of  cot- 
ton in  the  British  dominions  and,  consequently,  to  re- 
lieve the  Lancashire  spinners  from  their  present  de- 
pendence on  a  foreign  cotton  supply.  Under  these 
auspices,  the  West  Indian  planters  have,  in  large  num- 
bers, experimented  with  cotton  seed,  imported  from 
the  United  States,  and  it  may  be  said  that  cotton-grow- 
ing has  been  re-established  in  Barbados,  St.  Vincent, 
Antigua,  St.  Kitts,  Nevis,  and  Montserrat, 

The  cotton  is  a  long  staple  cotton  and  is  used  for  deli- 
cate fabrics;  it  commands  a  high  price  and  many  West 
Indians  are  enthusiastic  over  the  outlook.  I  confess  that 
among  these  I  do  not  know  any  planters.  The  men 
engaged  in  the  actual  experiment  at  their  own  expense 
seem  to  be  depressed  over  the  outlook.  There  were 
18,000  acres  of  land  under  cotton  cultivation  in  the 
year  1906,  but  the  crop  was  small.  According  to  the 
planters  with  whom  I  came  in  personal  contact  the 
crop  rarely  escaped  the  high  winds  or  heavy  rains  that 
are  so  apt  to  come  in  the  first  weeks  after  the  plants 
are  set  out.  However,  those  engaged  upon  this  in- 
novation, which,  after  all,  is  but  returning  to  an  old 
and  long-practised  form  of  agriculture,  are  not  as  yet 
finally  discouraged.  A  ginnery  was  established  in 
Saint  Lucia  in  1901,  and  now  there  are  ginneries  in 
each  of  the  principal  cotton-growing  islands. 

The  cacao  plant,  well  called  by  LinncEus  "  the  food 
of  the  gods,"  promises  to  shortly  supplant  the  sugar- 
cane as  the  most  lucrative  product  of  the  tropics.  Its 
development  in  the  last  few  years  has  been  phenomenal 


392        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

and  indeed  has  quite  outrun  statistics.  However,  the 
field  where  it  can  be  grown  with  success  is  much  more 
circumscribed  and  covers  a  smaller  area  than  does 
that  of  the  possible  sugar  lands.  The  plant  is  an 
evergreen,  which  grows,  under  suitable  conditions,  to 
thirty  feet  in  height;  it  has  bright,  pointed  leaves 
from  eight  to  twenty  inches  long.  The  flowers  and 
fruit,  which  it  bears  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  grow 
directly  off  the  trunk  of  the  plant  and  from  the  thick- 
est branches,  with  stalks  hardly  an  inch  in  length. 
The  fruit  is  a  large,  five-celled  pod,  generally  about 
eight  inches  long  and  three  or  four  broad,  the  colour 
varying  from  bright  yellow  to  red  and  purple.  When 
planted,  under  suitable  conditions,  the  plants  bear 
fruit  in  the  fourth,  and  more  rarely  in  the  third,  year 
after  they  are  set  out.  By  those  planters  who  can 
afford  to  be  patient,  it  has  been  found  wiser  to  cut 
the  flowers  off  for  the  first  few  years,  as  it  strengthens 
the  tree  and  the  crop  is  not  appreciable  in  any  event 
until  the  fifth  or  sixth  year.  The  yield  then  increases 
until  the  twelfth,  and  sometimes  the  fourteenth,  year 
of  the  plant  has  been  reached.  I  have  heard  of  an 
estate  where  there  are  said  to  be  trees  over  one  hun- 
dred years  old  still  producing  the  finest  quality  of 
cocoa,  though  on  a  reduced  scale.  I  have,  however, 
never  seen  any  of  these  trees  and  cannot  vouch  for  the 
story.  The  gathering  of  the  principal  crop  begins  in 
October  and  continues  until  April,  while  there  is  a 
smaller  crop  in  June.  The  ripe  pods  are  gathered  and 
piled  in  heaps.  Each  pod  should  contain  an  ounce  or 
an  ounce  and  a  half  of  dried  beans.  These  are  then 
broken  and  the  beans  removed,  in  baskets,  to  the 
sweating-house,  where  the  pulp  which  surrounds  them 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     393 

is  removed  by  a  process  of  fermentation.  Packed 
closely  together  in  boxes  and  covered  with  cool  plan- 
tain leaves,  the  beans  are  left  for  a  week,  with  an 
occasional  turn-over,  however,  to  see  how  the  fer- 
mentation Is  progressing.  The  beans  are  then  placed 
on  boucans  or  large  trays,  upon  which  the  negroes 
dance,  In  order  to  remove  the  dry  pulp.  Last  stage  of 
all,  the  beans  are  dried  out  in  the  sun.  It  Is  a  won- 
derfully profitable  crop  when  It  turns  out  all  right, 
but  It  Is,  perhaps,  too  sensitive  a  plant  for  staple  re- 
liance. It  is  also  one  of  the  most  difficult  forms  of 
tropical  agriculture  In  which  to  excel.  The  young 
cocoa  planter  would  do  well  to  serve  his  apprentice- 
ship In  one  of  the  experiment  stations  of  the  Imperial 
British  Agricultural  Department  In  Barbados  and 
Jamaica,  or  In  our  own  school  for  tropical  agriculture 
in  Mayaguez,  Porto  Rico,  rather  than  upon  a  planta- 
tion at  his  own  expense. 

It  is  on  the  credit  side  of  their  ledger  that  the 
Spaniards  Introduced  cacao,  as  well  as  sugar,  Into  the 
West  Indies.  The  original  home  of  the  plant  was 
probably  in  South  America,  and  It  Is  even  now  found 
in  a  wild  state  In  the  interior  of  Ecuador  and  on  the 
upper  Amazon. 

It  would  be  Idle,  If  not  criminal,  to  close  our  eyes 
to  the  immense  progress  which  German  commerce  has 
made  in  the  Caribbean  during  the  last  decade.  It 
would  be  wise,  I  think,  to  study  the  underlying  causes 
of  the  commercial  revolution  which  they  have  wrought, 
and,  If  possible,  to  profit  by  an  example  which  has 
met  with  such  success.  Most  Americans,  especially 
those  who  have  not  had  the  experience,  which  only 
residence  In  tropical  America  can  give,  dismiss  all  in- 


394        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

quirles  on  this  score  by  contemptuous  remarks  such  as 
"  Oh,  the  Germans  get  the  business  because  they  marry 
into  the  famihes  of  the  local  business  men,  whatever 
may  be  their  colour,  their  religion,  or  their  morals. 
Well,  we  do  not  want  business  at  this  price."  Which 
sounds  well  and  in  American  circles  generally  ends 
the  discussion  in  a  chorus  of  self-praise  and  indigna- 
tion at  the  conduct  of  the  Germans,  but  these  state- 
ments do  not  conform  to  the  facts. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  more  than  any  other 
Europeans,  the  Germans  figure  in  mixed  marriages 
in  this  part  of  the  world.  This  is  particularly  the  case 
in  Hayti,  where  they  have  frequently  married  pure 
blacks,  and  In  Ecuador  and  Bolivia,  where  they  have 
married  into  the  wealthy  Indian  half-breed  families. 
In  Hayti,  at  least,  most  Impartial  observers  have 
characterised  these  unions  as  business  marriages,  pure 
and  simple.  With  a  Haytian  wife  the  German  mer- 
chant could  own  land  In  the  Island,  and  his  legal  posi- 
tion was  decidedly  stronger  than  a  foreign  merchant's 
with  a  foreign  wife.  However,  some  six  years  ago, 
apparently  alarmed  at  the  Increasing  number  of  these 
business  marriages,  the  Haytian  congress  passed  a 
law,  by  which  It  was  provided  that  any  Haytian 
woman  who  married  a  foreigner  thereby  forfeited 
her  citizenship.  The  law  was  further  made  retro- 
active and  such  Germans  as  had  indulged  in  mixed 
marriages  found  themselves  pretty  much  where  they 
were  before,  as  far  as  their  commercial  facilities  were 
concerned,  but  socially  with  black  wives  on  their  hands. 

As  a  rule, — there  were  notable  exceptions, — these 
scamps  simply  deserted  their  wives  and,  wiser  by  a 
disagreeable   experience,    vanished   to   other   islands, 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     395 

there  to  resume  their  unprincipled  struggle  for  wealth 
at  any  cost,  but  these  men,  while  they  were  largely  of 
German  nationality,  are  by  no  means  typical  of  the 
German  commercial  colonists,  who,  as  a  rule,  enjoy 
great  and  well-deserved  consideration  in  most  of  the 
shipping  centres  and  industrial  emporia  of  the 
American  Mediterranean. 

When  I  have  taken  the  trouble  to  explode  the 
theory  that  German  commercial  successes  are  due  to 
the  mixed  marriages  in  which  the  tropical  Germans 
become  involved,  more  frequently  than  other  foreign- 
ers, the  dissatisfied  and  frequently  in  this  line  unsuc- 
cessful American  business  man  generally  falls  back 
upon  a  second  line  of  argument  and  of  defence,  which, 
while  not  wholly  convincing,  has  at  least  a  founda- 
tion of  fact. 

"  We  are  handicapped,  and  in  the  end  distanced,  be- 
cause the  German  steamship  companies  give  their 
nationals  cut-rates  and  the  German  banks  furnish  them 
with  financial  accommodation  on  terms  more  favour- 
able than  we  can  obtain,"  they  say.  This  is  un- 
doubtedly true  and  it  was  for  these  very  purposes 
that  the  banks  were  founded  and  the  steamers  sub- 
sidised. After  all  we  cannot,  and  we  should  not, 
complain  if  our  competitors  show  greater  foresight 
and  a  more  skilled  enterprise  in  their  undertakings 
than  do  we.  Let  us  face  the  facts,  however  unflatter- 
ing they  may  be  to  our  self-love. 

American  engineers  and  American  railroad  and 
mining  experts  have  no  superiors  In  tropical  America, 
and  there  they  occupy  the  position  which  belongs  to 
them,  but  our  resident  commercial  men,  with  but  a 
few,  a  very  few  exceptions,  are  outclassed  In  the  com- 


396        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

petition  to  which,  as  a  rule,  all  unprepared,  they  sub- 
ject themselves.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  Ameri- 
can goes  to  the  islands  of  the  Caribbean  or  the  adja- 
cent countries  of  the  mainland  intent  upon  a  specula- 
tion to  which  he  is  willing  to  devote  five  or  at  most 
ten  years  of  his  life  in  return  for  a  fortune  many 
times  larger  than  he  could,  reasonably,  nope  to  ac- 
quire at  home  in  the  same  period  or,  indeed,  within 
the  allotted  span  of  human  life.  Often  within  a  year, 
should  the  realisation  of  his  expectations  prove  slow, 
or  the  outcome  of  his  speculation  upon  a  nearer  view 
seem  dubious,  he  throws  up  the  sponge  and  goes 
home,  having  done  himself  no  good,  and  the  interests 
of  the  American  business  world  not  a  little  harm. 

The  German  method,  which  obtains  such  substantial 
results  for  the  individual  as  well  as  for  the  industries 
of  the  Fatherland,  is  very  different.  The  young  aspi- 
rant for  commercial  success  is  as  carefully  educated 
for  his  career  as  is  the  young  lawyer  or  doctor.  He 
learns  the  languages  and  the  history  of  the  country 
in  which  he  has  decided  to  spend  the  active  years  of 
his  life.  If  he  has  a  bias  or  even  prejudices,  in  re- 
gard to  the  political  customs  and  social  habits  of  his 
country  by  adoption,  he  learns  not  to  obtrude  them 
on  every  possible  occasion.  The  German  commercial 
houses  almost  invariably  engage  in  both  an  import 
and  an  export  business,  and  consequently  they  are  to 
a  great  extent  superior  to  the  tremendous  fluctuations 
in  exchange.  If  their  gold  capital  involved  in  current 
transactions  depreciates,  their  silver  capital  increases 
by  just  so  much  in  value,  while  the  American  and  the 
English  houses,  which,  as  a  rule,  do  a  straight  import 
or  a   straight  export  business,   sit  by   and   see   their 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     397 

profits  depreciate  sometimes  nearly  to  the  vanishing 
point  and  their  capital  becoming  seriously  impaired. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  scene  of  his  business  ca- 
reer the  young  German  spends  three  years,  after  hav- 
ing received  the  theoretical  training  of  a  business  col- 
lege in  the  home  office  of  the  firm  he  is  to  enter 
abroad,  or  one  in  a  similar  line  of  business,  and  so 
he  becomes  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  important 
details  of  how  the  articles  for  export  are  chosen  and 
assembled  and  how  the  imported  tropical  products  are 
distributed  to  best  advantage.  Only  when  these  ap- 
prentice trials  have  been  successfully  withstood  does 
he  proceed  to  his  chosen  field,  where  the  American  con- 
fronts him  with  no  other  arms  than  his  native  in- 
genuity and  perhaps  his  equally  native  audacity.  The 
result  of  the  confrontation,  except  when  very  excep- 
tional circumstances  intervene,  is  almost  always  the 
same.  The  German  gets  the  business  and,  as  a  rule, 
he  deserves  to  get  it.  "  Cheap  German  wares  "  are 
often  spoken  of  with  contempt,  generally  by  unsuccess- 
ful competitors  for  trade,  and  German  business  meth- 
ods are  also  held  up  to  derision  and  even  contempt, 
but,  after  all,  Latin-Americans  know  what  they  want 
as  well  as  any  other  people  and  they  seem  quite  satis- 
fied with  their  business  relations  with  German  houses; 
and  incontestably  the  Germans  themselves  have  every 
reason  to  be  satisfied;  it  is  only  we  who  have  cause 
for  discontent,  that  with  every  geographical  advantage 
we  see  a  trade  that  should  be  ours  slipping  through 
our  fingers. 

The  young  German  clerks  live  upon  a  patriarchal 
footing  with  the  heads  of  the  firm  to  which  they  be- 
long.    One  by  one  the  chiefs  go  home,   having  ac- 


398        THE  AMERICAN  MEDITERRANEAN 

quired  a  competence,  perhaps  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars, — more  often,  however,  only  half  that  sum, — 
and  the  juniors  are  promoted  into  the  more  responsi- 
ble and  lucrative  positions,  where  they  remain  upon 
good  behaviour  and  as  long  as  their  management  of 
affairs  is  efficient,  until  the  time  comes  when  they  also 
feel  inclined  to  retire. 

A  business  house  of  this  character  furnishes  suc- 
cessful careers  to  many,  and  acting  as  a  distributing 
agent,  proves  an  efficient  auxiliary  to  the  wonderful 
development  of  its  industries  and  manufactures  which 
the  German  Empire  has  witnessed  in  the  last  genera- 
tion. Until  we  can  organise  similar  commercial  ma- 
chinery or  evolve  superior  methods,  the  Germans  will 
continue  to  secure  much  business  which  should  be  ours, 
but  which  will  assuredly  not  fall  into  our  laps. 

To-day  there  is  a  new  and  in  despite  of  many 
obvious  and  undeniable  obstacles  a  hopeful  spirit 
abroad  in  the  West  Indies,  at  least  as  far  as  the  British 
possessions  are  concerned,  and  in  the  islands  of  Cuba, 
Porto  Rico,  and  Santo  Domingo.  The  old  era  is  well 
ended,  but  a  new  era  is  beginning  despite  the  numer- 
ous prophets  of  evil,  who  have  held  for  many  years 
past  that  the  Caribbean  islands  have  finally  and  ir- 
revocably passed  out  of  history.  When  you  have 
seen  what  changes  the  wonderful  development  of  the 
fruit  business  has  wrought  in  Jamaica  and  Costa  Rica, 
what  the  demand  for  and  the  enhancement  in  value 
of  rubber  has  done  for  Malaysia  and  the  Congo  re- 
gions; when  we  behold  the  wonders  that,  on  a  small 
scale,  the  profitable  growing  of  cacao  has  already 
wrought  in  some  of  the  countries  under  discussion,  it 
would  be,  indeed,  a  reckless  prophet  who  would  deny 


THE  USUFRUCT  OF  THE  WEST  INDIES     399 

the  possibility  of  the  islands  of  the  American  Medi- 
terranean becoming  almost  as  rich  and  as  desirable  in 
comparison  with  the  rest  of  the  world  as  they  were 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  when  England  counted 
the  loss  of  the  thirteen  continental  colonies  of  but  lit- 
tle moment  so  long  as  her  control  over  the  sugar 
islands  was  maintained. 

Undeniably  a  new  era  is  dawning  in  that  part  of  the 
world  which  lies  just  outside  our  gates  and  which  is 
called,  with  increasing  frequency,  the  American  In- 
dies, and  the  American  Mediterranean.  Perhaps,  in 
chronicling  the  recent  changes  which  have  here  taken 
place,  and  in  indicating  those  which  seem  to  be  immi- 
nent, perhaps,  in  bringing  together  the  foregoing  ex- 
cerpts from  current  opinion  at  home  and  abroad  upon 
the  question  involved,  reason  has  been  shown  why  we 
should  prepare  to  accept  or  to  avert  the  consequences 
alike  of  our  activity  and  of  our  inaction  in  the  islands 
which  lie  so  near  to  us,  and  in  the  waters  which  wash 
our  shores.* 

*  Since  the  foregoing  was  written  the  United  States  Senate  has 
gone  a  step  further  in  the  traditional  American  poHcy.  On  the 
motion  of  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  of  Massachusetts  in  July,  1912,  the 
Senate  resolved  by  a  vote  of  fifty-one  to  four,  that  "  when  any  har- 
bour or  other  place  in  the  American  continent  is  so  situated  that  the 
occupation  thereof  for  naval  or  military  purposes  might  threaten 
the  communications  or  safety  of  the  United  States,  the  Government 
could  not  see  without  grave  concern  the  possession  of  such  harbour 
or  any  other  place  by  any  corporation  or  association  which  has  such 
relation  to  another  government,  not  American,  as  to  give  that  gov- 
ernment practical  power  of  control  for  naval  or  military  purposes." 

The  resolution  was  presented  in  the  Senate  and  accepted  by  an 
overwhelming  majority  at  a  time  when  it  was  rumoured  that  the  Im- 
perial Japanese  Government  was  interested  in  negotiations  then  in 
progress  for  the  purchase  of  Magdalena  Bay  in  Lower  California 
(Republic  of  Mexico).  It  practically  reaffirms,  in  other  words,  the 
purpose  of  the  Monroe  declaration  of  1823  and  constitutes  an  impor- 
tant development  in  our  foreign  policy. 


APPENDIXES 


APPENDIX  A 

NOTE  I 

Cuban    Budget    19 io — Commercial   and   Agricultural 

Statistics 

The  total  Government  revenues  for  the  year  19 10  amounted 
to  $41,614,694.10,  and  the  expenditures  to  $40,593,392.21. 
These  figures  show  a  surplus  of  $1,021,301.89. 

The  principal  sources  of  revenue  were: 

Custom-house  receipts $24,838,030.27 

Loan  taxes 3.570>  176.50 

Internal  revenues 1,020,196.15 

Communications 990,440.69 

Consular  fees 424,152.45 

National  lottery ,. .  3,652,400.5 1 

The  principal  expenditures  were: 

Legislative  Branch 840,170.32 

Executive  Branch    156,629.76 

Judicial  Branch   1,766,228.33 

Department  of  State    714,515.26 

Department  of  Justice 202,620.85 

Department  of  Government 10,168,201.85 

Department  of  the  Treasury 2,724,987.98 

Department  of  Public  Instruction    4,319.998.83 

Department  of  Public  Works 3.572,i55.20 

401 


402  APPENDIXES 

Department  of  Agriculture,  Labour,  and  Com- 
merce      659,188.88 

Department  of  Health  and  Charities 4,137,469.89 

On  account  of  interior  debt 737,172.50 

Interest  and  expenses  on  account  of  loan 2,933,732.56 

Debt 

According  to  the  message  of  the  President,  Sr.  Don  Jose 
Miguel  Gomez,  presented  to  the  National  Congress  on  April  3, 
191 1,  the  public  debt  of  Cuba  amounted  to  $62,083,100,  as 
follows : 

Bonds  of  the  revolution,   1896,  6  per 

cent $2,196,585 

Redeemed 1,464,585 

$732,000 

Interior  debt,  5  per  cent 10,871,100 

Interior  debt,  1906,  4^^  per  cent 16,500,000 

27,371,100 

Loan  of  1904,  5  per  cent 35,000,000 

Amortisation    i  ,020,000 

33,980,000 

Total  debt   62,083,100 

FOREIGN    COMMERCE 

The  total  foreign  commerce  of  Cuba  for  the  year  19 10,  ac- 
cording to  the  Bulletin  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Industry, 
and  Navigation  of  Habana,  amounted  to  $254,584,601.  The 
imports  were  $103,675,581  and  the  exports  $150,909,020.  In 
1909  the  imports  were  $91,447,581  and  the  exports  $124,711,- 
069.  There  was  therefore  an  increase  for  the  year  19 10,  as 
compared  with  the  preceding  year,  of  $12,228,000  in  imports 
and  $26,197,951  in  exports,  or  a  total  increase  of  $38,425,951. 

The  imports  and  exports  of  specie,  which  are  not  included  in 


APPENDIXES  403 

the  above  totals,  were,   for  the  year    19 10,   imports,  $4,283,- 
617,  and.  exports,  $361,538. 

American  capital  in  the  island  represents  a  total  investment 
of  $141,000,000,  distributed  as  follows:  Railways,  $34,000,- 
000;  sugar  and  tobacco,  $68,000,000;  real  estate,  $18,000,000; 
banks,  $5,000,000;  agricultural  industries  (other  than  those 
specifically  mentioned),  $4,000,000;  mortgages,  $3,500,000; 
navigation  companies,  $1,500,000;  and  miscellaneous  invest- 
ments, $7,000,000.  The  English  capital  invested  in  the  island 
amounts  to  nearly  $90,000,000,  about  $5,000,000  of  which  is 
in  steamships,  $5,000,000  in  real  estate,  and  the  balance  mostly 
in  railway  interests,  aggregating  nearly  $80,000,000. 

COMMERCE 

The  bulk  of  articles  imported  free  of  duty  were:  Coal  and 
timber,  which  came  practically  all  from  United  States.  Agri- 
cultural implements,  such  as  ploughs,  hoes,  and  machetes,  from 
United  States,  United  Kingdom,  and  Germany.  Trees  in 
natural  or  fresh  state,  nearly  all  from  United  States.  Wood 
pulp  for  making  paper:  From  United  States,  France,  Germany, 
Belgium,  and  Canada.  Mineral  water:  From  Spain,  France, 
Germany,  United  States,  and  Belgium.  Cheesecloth:  From 
United  States  and  Netherlands.  Barbed  wire:  From  United 
States,  Belgium,  and  United  Kingdom. 

From  the  tables  above  it  will  be  seen  that  nearly  one-half 
of  the  imports  were  from  the  United  States,  which  led  in  all 
kinds  of  articles,  except  gold  and  silver  ware,  cotton  and  manu- 
factures, vegetable  fibres  and  manufactures,  wool,  hair,  and 
manufactures,  silk  and  manufactures,  dried  fish,  and  beverages. 
Of  the  European  countries  the  United  Kingdom  follows  as 
second,  followed  by  Spain,  Germany,  and  France  in  close  suc- 
cession. 

NOTE  II 

The  text  of  the  Piatt  Amendment  as  passed  by  the  Senate 
and  the  House  of  the  United  States  Congress,  and  after  much 


404  APPENDIXES 

delay  accepted  by  the  Cuban  Convention  on  the  28th  of  May, 
1902,  by  the  very  close  vote  of  15  to  14,  reads  as  follows: 

"  That,  in  fulfilment  of  the  declaration  contained  in  the 
Joint  Resolution,  approved  April  20th,  1898,  entitled  *  For 
the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the  people  of  Cuba,  de- 
manding that  the  Government  of  Spain  relinquish  its  authority 
and  government  in  the  Island  of  Cuba,  and  w^ithdraw  its 
land  and  naval  forces  from  Cuba  and  Cuban  waters,  and 
directing  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  use  the  land  and 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  to  carry  these  resolutions  into 
efifect;  the  President  is  hereby  authorised  to  leave  the  govern- 
ment and  control  of  the  Island  of  Cuba  to  its  people  so  soon 
as  a  government  shall  have  been  established  in  said  Island, 
under  a  Constitution  which,  either  as  a  part  thereof  or  in  any 
ordinance  appended  thereto,  shall  define  the  future  relations 
of  the  United  States  with  Cuba,  substantially  as  follows: 

"  ( I )  That  the  Government  of  Cuba  shall  never  enter  into 
any  treaty  or  other  compact  with  any  foreign  Power  or  Powers 
which  will  impair  or  tend  to  impair  the  independence  of  Cuba, 
nor  in  any  manner  authorise  or  permit  any  foreign  Power  or 
Powers  to  obtain  by  colonisation  or  for  military  or  naval  pur- 
poses, or  otherwise,  lodgment  in  or  control  over  any  portion  of 
said  Island. 

"  (2)  That  said  Government  shall  not  assume  or  contract 
any  public  debt,  to  pay  the  interest  upon  which  and  to  make  rea- 
sonable sinking-fund  provision  for  the  ultimate  discharge  of 
which,  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  Island,  after  defraying  the 
current  expenses  of  government,  shall  be  inadequate. 

"  (3)  That  the  Government  of  Cuba  consents  that  the 
United  States  may  exercise  the  right  to  intervene  for  the 
preservation  of  Cuban  independence,  the  maintenance  of  a  gov- 
ernment adequate  for  the  protection  of  life,  property,  and 
individual  liberty,  for  discharging  the  obligations  with  respect 
to  Cuba  imposed  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  on  the  United  States, 
now  to  be  assumed  and  undertaken  by  the  Government  of  Cuba. 


APPENDIXES  405 

"  (4)  That  all  acts  of  the  United  States  in  Cuba  during  its 
military  occupation  thereof  are  ratified  and  validated,  and  all 
lawful  rights  acquired  thereunder  shall  be  maintained  and  pro- 
tected. 

"  (5)  That  the  Government  of  Cuba  will  execute,  and  as  far 
as  necessary  extend,  the  plans  already  devised  or  other  plans 
to  be  mutually  agreed  upon,  for  the  sanitation  of  the  cities 
of  the  Island,  to  the  end  that  a  recurrence  of  epidemic  and  in- 
fectious diseases  may  be  prevented,  thereby  assuring  protection 
to  the  people  and  commerce  of  Cuba,  as  well  as  to  the  com- 
merce of  the  Southern  ports  of  the  United  States  and  the  people 
residing  therein. 

"  (6)  That  the  Isle  of  Pines  shall  be  omitted  from  the 
proposed  Constitutional  boundaries  of  Cuba,  the  title  thereto 
left  to  future  adjustment  by  treaty. 

"  (7)  That  to  enable  the  United  States  to  maintain  the 
independence  of  Cuba,  and  to  protect  the  people  thereof,  as  well 
as  for  its  own  defence,  the  Government  of  Cuba  will  sell  or 
lease  to  the  United  States  lands  necessary  for  coaling  or  naval 
stations  at  certain  specified  points  to  be  agreed  upon  with  the 
President  of  the  United  States. 

"  (8)  That  by  way  of  further  assurance  the  Government  of 
Cuba  will  embody  the  foregoing  provisions  in  a  permanent 
treaty  with  the  United  States." 

APPENDIX  B 
Hayti  in  History 

NOTE  I 

Hayti,  a  land  of  mountains,  as  its  name  in  Carib  implies, 
has  an  area  of  something  over  ten  thousand  miles,  occupies 
the  western  half  of  the  Island  of  Hispaniola,  and  has  a  popu- 
lation which  is  estimated  at  two  million,  or  about  236  in- 
habitants to  the  square  mile.  In  the  Gulf  of  Gonaives  on  the 
west  there  are  dozens  of  natural  harbours  where  the  largest 


4o6  APPENDIXES 

vessels  can  find  roomy  shelter  at  all  tides.  The  island  was 
discovered  by  Columbus  on  his  first  voyage  and  was  the  scene 
of  his  greatest  activity.  It  remained  under  Spanish  dominion 
for  two  hundred  years,  though  the  western  portions  were 
largely  under  the  control  of  the  buccaneers,  chiefly  French, 
who  held  the  fortified  island  of  Tortuga  a  few  miles  ofE  the 
northwest  coast.  By  the  treaty  of  Ryswick  (1697)  Spain 
ceded  what  is  practically  the  present  republic  of  Hayti  to  the 
French  and  then  began  on  a  very  remarkable  scale,  such  as 
never  has  been  equalled  elsewhere,  except  perhaps  in  Java,  the 
exploitation  of  tropical  plantations  and  labour  by  foreign  capi- 
tal, energy,  and  intelligence. 

Within  a  little  more  than  fifty  years  following  the  first 
Spanish  settlement  on  the  island  the  native  inhabitants  were 
practically  exterminated.  This  led  to  the  introduction  of 
negro  slaves  from  Africa,  who  were  needed  to  take  the  place 
of  the  Indians  in  the  mines  and  particularly  in  the  fields,  for 
during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  Hayti  had 
become  a  country  of  large  plantations  owned  by  rich  French 
landholders.  At  the  beginning  of  the  French  Revolution  the 
population  of  Hayti  was  overwhelmingly  black,  but  slave,  and 
controlled  by  a  handful  of  white  French  soldiers,  landowners, 
and  overseers. 

In  1793,  France  being  then  at  war  with  England,  the  Eng- 
lish General  Whitelocke  invaded  the  country.  Freedom  was 
offered  by  the  French  authorities  to  all  slaves  who  would 
enroll  themselves  in  the  army  against  the  enemy.  This  was 
followed  soon  afterwards,  in  August  of  the  same  year,  by  a 
decree  abolishing  slavery.  As  a  result  of  the  military  assistance 
rendered  by  the  blacks  the  English  were  forced  to  evacuate 
the  island. 

The  principal  credit  for  successful  resistance  to  the  Eng- 
lish was  due  to  Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  a  former  runaway 
slave,  who  upon  the  publication  of  the  emancipation  proclama- 
tion returned  from  the  Spanish  part  of  the  island,  to  assist  and 
finally  to  lead  his  fellow  freedmen  against  the  invaders.     Tous- 


APPENDIXES  407 

saint  was  at  first  honoured  by  the  French  and  even  made  mili- 
tary governor,  but  afterwards  fell  under  suspicion.  In  May, 
1 80 1,  a  constitution  was  promulgated  by  Toussaint,  which  act 
was  treated  by  Napoleon  as  rebellion.  From  this  date  began 
the  struggle  for  independence  which  lasted  nearly  three  years. 
In  1802,  Toussaint,  Rigaud,  and  other  leaders  were  induced  by 
Leclerc,  the  French  commander,  to  surrender  under  guaran- 
tees. Faith  was  not  kept  by  the  French,  and  Toussaint  was 
sent  as  a  prisoner  to  France,  where  he  died.  The  blacks  again 
arose  under  Dessalines  and  Christophe,  and  in  December,  1803, 
the   French  abandoned   the  contest. 

Dessalines,  on  January  i,  1804,  promulgated  the  declara- 
tion of  Haytian  independence  and  was  himself  proclaimed  Em- 
peror. He  ruled  until  November,  1806,  when  he  was  assassi- 
nated. Henri  Christophe  was  in  the  following  month  elected 
President  under  a  new  constitution  establishing  the  Republic. 
He  refused  the  presidency  and  proclaimed  himself  king  with 
the  title  of  Henri  I.  This  led  to  civil  war  and  a  division  of 
the  country,  Henri  I.  ruling  as  king  in  the  north  and  Alex- 
andre Petion  as  president  in  the  south.  Petion  died  in  1818  and 
was  succeeded  by  Jean  Pierre  Boyer.  Henri  I.  committed  sui- 
cide in  1820,  and  Boyer  became  President  of  the  whole  country. 
He  extended  his  authority  also  over  the  Spanish  end  of  the 
island,  now  the  Dominican  Republic.  In  1844  the  Dominicans 
threw  off  the  yoke  of  Hayti  and  became  independent. 


NOTE  II 

A  BAROMETRIC  record  of  the  political  convulsions  which  the 
island  has  passed  through  is  furnished  by  the  following  brief 
table : 

1804.        Dessalines  crowned  Emperor  as  Jacques  I. 
1806.        Dessalines  assassinated;  San  Domingo  again  separated 
from  Hayti  and  reoccupied  by  Spain. 


4o8  APPENDIXES 

1807.  Christophe,  a  mulatto,  first  President,  then  assumes 
royal  honours  under  title  of  Henri  I.,  "  King  of  the 
North." 

181 1.  Petion  President;  a  numerous  black  aristocracy 
created. 

1820-25.  San  Domingo  proclaims  its  independence  under  the 
flag  of  Colombia;  the  two  States  reunited  under  Boyer, 
who  is  declared  regent  for  life;  Christophe  commits 
suicide. 

1843-48.  Boyer  deposed;  San  Domingo  and  part  of  Hayti 
proclaim  the  "Dominican  Republic"  (1844);  recog- 
nised by  France  (1848). 

1849-53.  Buenaventura  Baez  President  of  San  Domingo. 

1849-56.  Soulouque  first  President,  then  Emperor  of  Hayti,  as 
Faustin  I.;  attacks  San  Domingo  and  is  repulsed. 

1858-59.  Fabre  Gef^rard  proclaims  republic  of  Hayti;  Sou- 
louque abdicates;  execution  of  sixteen  conspirators 
against  President  Geffrard. 

1861-72.  San  Domingo  declares  for  reunion  with  Spain;  insur- 
rection against  Spain  (1863);  Spanish  force  lands; 
insurgents  defeated  (1864)  ;  Spain  withdraws  (May, 
1865)  ;  Cabral  and  Baez  rival  presidents  (1865-72). 

1865-67.  Incendiary  fires  in  Hayti;  Salnave  revolts  and  seizes 
Cape  Haytien,  where  he  removes  refugees  from  Brit- 
ish consulate,  shoots  them,  and  destroys  the  building; 
British  squadron  expels  the  rebels  and  hands  over  the 
forts  to  Gef¥rard  (1865);  renewed  revolts  against 
GefFrard,  who  is  banished,  and  Salnave  proclaimed 
President  under  a  new  constitution ;  revolt  sup- 
pressed (1867). 

1868-70.  General  rising  against  Salnave;  rebels  defeated,  cap- 
tives massacred ;  Salnave  proclaims  himself  Emperor ; 
Saget  and  Dominguez  proclaimed  presidents  by  their 
respective  adherents  (1868)  ;  Salnave  finally  defeated, 
taken,  and  shot   (1870). 


APPENDIXES  409 

1870-76.  Saget,  Domlnguez,  and  Canal  successive  presidents 
of  Hayti  during  a  period  of  comparative  repose. 

1871-77.  Great  disorders  in  San  Domingo;  Baez  moves 
against  Hayti  (1871);  revolts  for  and  against  Baez 
and  Ganier  d'Aton  (1873-75)  ;  outbreak  in  the  capi- 
tal; Guillermo  declared  President   (1877). 

1876-86.  Troubles  renewed  in  Hayti;  execution  of  suspects  by 
Dominguez,  who  flies  to  St.  Thomas,  and  is  suc- 
ceeded by  Canal  (1876);  after  hard  fighting  Canal 
resigns;  Salomon  President  (1879);  fresh  revolts 
(1883-84);  Salomon  re-elected   (1886). 

1880-86.  F.  A.  de  Marino,  a  priest,  President  and  Dictator  of 
San  Domingo  (1880-81);  revolts  suppressed  with 
much  bloodshed  (1883-86)  ;  F.  Bellini  and  U.  Heu- 
reaux  successive  presidents  of  San  Domingo  (1884- 
86). 

1888-92.  Revolution  in  Hayti;  Salomon  deposed  and  banished 
(1888);  insurrection  of  Telemaque;  civil  war  be- 
tween North  and  South  Hayti  headed  by  Hippolyte 
and  Legitime;  Hippolyte  President  (1889-90);  san- 
guinary outbreak  (1891). 

1892-95.  Heureaux  re-elected  President  of  San  Domingo;  con- 
spiracy of  General  Bobadilla,  who  is  taken  and  shot; 
rupture  with  France  over  a  petty  bank  transaction ; 
settled  by  payment  of  indemnity   (1893-95). 

1896-99.  Simon  Sam  President  of  Hayti;  rupture  with  Ger- 
many owing  to  arrest  of  Herr  Liiders;  ultimatum; 
indemnity  paid  (1897)  >  disorders;  martial  law;  great 
fire    at    Port-au-Prince;    earthquake;    general    unrest 

(1898-99). 
1 900- 1.     Simon  Sam  leaves  the  country  by  night  with  all  the 

available  assets  of  the  treasury. 
1902.        After   twelve   months   of   bloodshed    General   Alexis 

Nord    emerges    successful    from    the    revolutionary 

melee  and  is  proclaimed  President. 


4IO  APPENDIXES 

NOTE  III 

The  constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Hayti  was  proclaimed 
on  the  gth  day  of  October,  1889,  and  by  its  provisions  the 
unitary,  republican  form  of  government  was  adopted,  the  ad- 
ministration of  which  is  vested  in  the  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  branches. 

The  Legislature  is  composed  of  two  chambers,  a  Chamber 
of  Representatives  and  a  Senate,  the  two  together  composing 
a  National  Assembly.  The  Chamber  of  Representatives  con- 
sists of  96  members,  elected  by  the  people  for  a  term  of  three 
years,  and  the  Senate  of  39  members,  chosen  by  the  Representa- 
tives from  lists  furnished  by  a  board  of  electors  and  by  the 
President  of  the  Republic,  for  a  term  of  six  years.  The 
Senate  is  renewed  by  thirds  every  two  years. 

A  permanent  committee  of  seven  Senators  is  elected  annually 
by  the  Senate  to  represent  the  National  Assembly  during  recess 
and  to  prepare  all  unfinished  business. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  is  elected  by  the  National 
Assembly  for  a  term  of  seven  years  and  cannot  be  re-elected 
except  after  an  interval  of  at  least  one  term.  In  case  of  death, 
resignation,  or  disability,  the  executive  power  rests  in  the  Sec- 
retaries of  State,  acting  as  a  body,  who  exercise  the  said  au- 
thority until  new  elections  can  be  held. 

The  cabinet  consists  of  six  Ministers  or  Secretaries  of  State. 

The  Supreme  Court  is  the  highest  tribunal  of  justice.  There 
are  also  five  Courts  of  Appeals,  one  for  each  Department,  a 
number  of  district  and  municipal  courts  and  other  tribunals  of 
special  jurisdiction. 

INTERIOR    GOVERNMENT 

The  country  is  divided  into  five  Departments,  which  are 
again  divided  into  arrondissements,  these  into  communes  and 
the  latter  into  sections  or  districts.  The  Governor  and  other 
executive  officers  of  the  Department  are  appointed  by  the 
President  of  the  Republic. 


APPENDIXES  4" 

The  chief  departments  of  Hayti  and  their  respective  capitals 
are: 

Department  Capital 

North Cape  Haytien 

Northwest   Port  de  Paix 

Arbonite Gonaives 

West    Port-au-Prince 

South Les  Cayes 

Each  department  is  presided  over  by  a  "  general,"  who  is 
quite  frequently  an  aspirant  if  not  an  actual  dictator. 

NOTE  IV 

The  governmental  receipts  for  the  fiscal  year  1908-9  were 
about  four  million  two  hundred  thousand  dollars;  about  two 
million  dollars  was  required  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  foreign 
debt,  or  nearly  half  the  gross  revenue. 

The  commerce  valuation  for  1908  is  nearly  five  million 
dollars.  France  is  the  greatest  market  for  Haytian  products; 
Germany  comes  next.  We  sell  to  Hayti  more  than  a  million 
dollars'  worth  of  goods  annually.  This  exceeds  greatly  in 
amount  the  imports  from  all  other  countries  combined. 

Should  the  proposed  railways  be  built,  the  richest  and 
hitherto  neglected  sections  of  the  island  will  be  opened  to 
commercial,  agricultural,  and  mining  activity;  a  vast  extent 
of  forest  composed  of  the  cabinet  and  dye  woods  will  also 
become  accessible. 

The  mineral  resources  of  the  republic,  consisting  of  gold, 
silver,  copper,  iron,  antimony,  tin,  sulphur,  coal,  kaolin,  nickel, 
gypsum,  and  limestone,  are  as  yet  undeveloped.  Remains  of  an 
ancient  gold  mine  have  recently  been  discovered  near  Ouan- 
minthe  on  the  Dominican  frontier  and  iron  deposits  are  known 
to  exist  in  the  same  locality,  while  at  Fort  Dauphin  and  in  the 


412  APPENDIXES 

Limonade  districts,  respectively,  deposits  of  copper  and  iron 
oxide  have  been  discovered.  Near  Lescahobes  considerable  out- 
croppings  of  soft  coal  are  reported  and  at  Camp  Perrin,  some 
seven  leagues  inland,  there  is  a  coal  mine  showing  numerous 
rich  veins.  In  the  vicinity  of  Jacmel  there  are  copper  and 
silver  deposits  which  have  never  been  worked,  and  at  Terre- 
neuve,  distant  about  four  hours'  travel  from  Gonai'ves,  a  cop- 
per mine  is  in  exploitation  by  a  syndicate  of  Haytians  of  Ger- 
man descent.  A  fuller  account  of  the  mines  and  the  ore  indi- 
cations of  the  island  appeared  in  the  New  York  Herald  March 
28,  1909. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  mineral  wealth  of  the 
country  is  large,  but  exact  scientific  information,  so  far  as  it 
has  been  obtained  by  qualified  metallurgists,  is  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  mining  companies  and  corporations  who  for  the  most 
part  are  still  awaiting  the  establishment  of  stable  political 
conditions. 

Numerous  railway  concessions  have  been  granted,  but  up  to 
the  present  (November,  1909)  there  are  only  forty  miles  of 
railway  in  operation,  inclusive  of  five  miles  of  tramway  in 
Port-au-Prince.  The  Haytian  ports,  eleven  in  number,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  in  very  frequent  communication  with  the  out- 
side world  by  means  of  the  Atlas  Line  and  the  Royal  Dutch 
West  India  Mail  from  New  York  and  the  Hamburg-American 
and  the  French  Transatlantic  steamers  (annex). 

Owing  principally  to  the  political  disorders,  which  are 
chronic,  the  exports  from  the  island  are  steadily  decreasing, 
while  the  public  debt,  on  the  contrary,  by  reason  of  the  high 
rate  of  interest  paid  and  at  times  defaulted,  and  the  custom 
of  the  various  governments  of  the  day,  of  selling  what  may  be 
called  treasury  bills  to  large  foreign  commercial  houses,  and 
of  which  little  account  is  kept  by  the  treasury  bookkeeper,  is 
steadily  increasing. 

I  have  given  some  study  to  such  items  of  the  Haytian  debt 
as  are  traceable,  and  while  not  pretending  to  a  knowledge 
which  the  treasury  officials  themselves  do  not  possess,  it  is  clear 


APPENDIXES 


413 


that  the  Black  Republic  owes  at  least  thirty-two  millions  of 
gold  dollars,  a  serious  burden  indeed  for  a  country  which  is 
practically  without  commerce  or  profitable  industry.  It  can- 
not be  denied  that  the  fiscal  condition  of  the  country  is  even 
more  critical  than  that  of  the  adjacent  Dominican  Republic, 
when,  in  1907,  the  United  States  Government  was  compelled 
to  intervene  and  to  assume  quite  a  definite  measure  of  financial 
and  political  responsibility. 

What  our  commerce  was  in  Hayti  nearly  a  hundred  years 
ago,  what  a  rich  market  has  been  closed  to  the  commercial 
world  by  the  political  condition  of  the  island,  is  shown  very 
clearly  by  the  following  table  of  imports  for  the  year  1825, 
drawn  up  by  Mr.  Mackenzie,  then  English  Consul  General 
in  Hayti: 


Flag 

VESSELS 

TONNAGE 

VALUE  CARGOES 

American 

374 

78 
65 
17 
18 

39.T99 

11,952 

11,136 

3,185 

1,328 

;^39i.784 

291,456 

152,681 

85.951 

10  162 

British 

French  

German 

Others 

^^932,034 

To-day  all  Haytian  trade  is  centred  in  coffee.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  these  plantations  are  cared  for  by  the  beneficent  hand 
of  Nature,  and  not  by  the  shiftless  labourers.  The  heavy 
rains  knock  off  the  berries  when  they  are  ripe,  seed  them,  and 
the  result  is  the  wonderful  jungles  of  coffee  bushes  whose 
fecundity  is  nowhere  else  equalled. 

Port-au-Prince,  and  indeed  most  of  the  Haytian  ports, 
enjoy  a  very  active  press.  In  the  capital  there  is  the  Moniteur, 
the  official  organ  and  a  congressional  record  as  well.  It  is 
rather  a  lethargic  organ,  however,  and  deputies  sometimes 
have  to  wait  six  months  to  see  themselves  in  print.  These 
delays  are  due  to  the  climate  and  not  to  palace  arrogance,  be- 


414  APPENDIXES 

cause  there  are  no  opposition  members  in  a  Haytian  congress — 
at   least   not   open   ones. 

The  daily  papers  are  the  Matin  and  the  Soir,  both  of  which 
appear  in  the  morning  singularly  enough,  and  the  Pacificateur 
and  the  Nouvelliste.  There  is  a  host  of  literary  weeklies  in 
which  the  poets  and  the  romancers  of  the  island  air  their 
talents,  which  are  considerable. 

APPENDIX  C 

Dominican  Republic  in  1910 

NOTE  I 

I  GIVE  in  full  below  the  text  of  the  convention  signed  be- 
tween the  Dominican  Republic  and  the  United  States  on  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1907,  and  subsequently  approved  and  ratified.  Here 
we  have  a  formula  which  will  be  appealed  to  and  perhaps  ap- 
plied again  and  again  in  the  course  of  the  century  that  is  open- 
ing. The  Dominican  convention  might  justly  be  termed  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  of  a  more  practical  age. 

"  Whereas  during  disturbed  political  conditions  in  the  Do- 
minican Republic  debts  and  claims  have  been  created,  some 
by  regular  and  some  by  revolutionary  governments,  many  of 
doubtful  validity  in  whole  or  in  part,  and  amounting  in  all  to 
over  $30,000,000  nominal  or  face  value; 

"  And  whereas  the  same  conditions  have  prevented  the  peace- 
able and  continuous  collection  and  application  of  national  reve- 
nues for  payment  of  interest  or  principal  of  such  debts  or  for 
liquidation  and  settlement  of  such  claims,  and  the  said  debts 
and  claims  continually  increase  by  accretion  of  interest  and 
are  a  grievous  burden  upon  the  people  of  the  Dominican  Re- 
public and  a  barrier  to  their  improvement  and  prosperity; 

"  And  whereas  the  Dominican  Government  has  now  effected 
a  conditional  adjustment  and  settlement  of  said  debts  and 
claims  under  which   all   its   foreign   creditors  have  agreed  to 


APPENDIXES  415 

accept  about  $12,407,000  for  debts  and  claims  amounting  to 
about  $21,184,000  of  nominal  or  face  value,  and  the  holders 
of  internal  debts  or  claims  of  about  $2,028,258  nominal  or  face 
value  have  agreed  to  accept  about  $645,827  therefor,  and  the 
remaining  holders  of  internal  debts  or  claims  on  the  same  basis 
as  the  assents  already  given  will  receive  about  $2,400,000 
therefor,  which  sum  the  Dominican  Government  has  fixed  and 
determined  as  the  amount  which  it  will  pay  to  such  remaining 
internal-debt  holders;  making  the  total  payments  under  such 
adjustment  and  settlement,  including  interest  as  adjusted  and 
claims  not  yet  liquidated,  amount  to  not  more  than  about 
$17,000,000; 

"  And  whereas  a  part  of  such  plan  of  settlement  is  the 
Issue  and  sale  of  bonds  of  the  Dominican  Republic  to  the 
amount  of  $20,000,000,  bearing  5  per  cent,  interest,  payable  in 
fifty  years  and  redeemable  after  ten  years  at  102'jA,  and  requir- 
ing payment  of  at  least  i  per  cent,  per  annum  for  amortisation, 
the  proceeds  of  said  bonds,  together  with  such  funds  as  are  now 
deposited  for  the  benefit  of  creditors  from  customs  revenues 
of  the  Dominican  Republic  heretofore  received,  after  payment 
of  the  expenses  of  such  adjustment,  to  be  applied,  first,  to  the 
payment  of  said  debts  and  claims  as  adjusted;  and,  second,  out 
of  the  balance  remaining,  to  the  retirement  and  extinction  of 
certain  concessions  and  harbour  monopolies  which  are  a  burden 
and  hindrance  to  the  commerce  of  the  country,  and,  third,  the 
entire  balance  still  remaining  to  the  construction  of  certain  rail- 
roads and  bridges  and  other  public  improvements  necessary 
to  the  industrial  development  of  the  country; 

"  And  whereas  the  whole  of  said  plan  is  conditioned  and  de- 
pendent upon  the  assistance  of  the  United  States  in  the  collec- 
tion of  customs  revenues  of  the  Dominican  Republic  and  the 
application  thereof,  so  far  as  necessary,  to  the  interest  upon 
and  the  amortisation  and  redemption  of  said  bonds,  and  the 
Dominican  Republic  has  requested  the  United  States  to  give, 
and  the  United  States  is  willing  to  give,  such  assistance ; 

"  The  Dominican  Government,  represented  by  its  Minister 


4i6  APPENDIXES 

of  Sfate  for  Foreign  Relations,  Emiliano  Tejera,  and  its 
Minister  of  State  for  Finance  and  Commerce,  Federico  Ve- 
lazquez Hernandez,  and  the  United  States,  represented  by 
Thomas  C.  Dawson,  Minister  Resident  and  Consul-General  of 
the  United  States  to  the  Dominican  Republic,  have  agreed: 

"  First.  That  the  President  of  the  United  States  shall  ap- 
point a  general  receiver  of  Dominican  customs,  who,  with  such 
assistant  receivers  and  other  employees  of  the  receivership  as 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  in  his 
discretion,  shall  collect  all  the  customs  duties  accruing  at  the 
several  custom-houses  of  the  Dominican  Republic  until  the  pay- 
ment or  retirement  of  any  and  all  bonds  issued  by  the  Domin- 
ican Government,  in  accordance  with  the  plan  and  under  the 
limitations  as  to  terms  and  amounts  hereinbefore  recited,  and 
said  general  receiver  shall  apply  the  sums  so  collected  as  fol- 
lows: First,  to  paying  the  expenses  of  the  receivership;  sec- 
ond, to  the  payment  of  interest  upon  said  bonds;  third,  to  the 
payment  of  the  annual  sums  provided  for  amortisation  of  said 
bonds,  including  interest  upon  all  bonds  held  in  sinking  fund ; 
fourth,  to  the  purchase  and  cancellation,  or  the  retirement  and 
cancellation,  pursuant  to  the  terms  thereof,  of  any  of  said 
bonds  as  may  be  directed  by  the  Dominican  Government ;  fifth, 
the  remainder  to  be  paid  to  the  Dominican  Government. 

"  The  method  of  distributing  the  current  collections  of  reve- 
nue in  order  to  accomplish  the  application  thereof  as  herein- 
before provided  shall  be  as  follows: 

"  The  expenses  of  the  receivership  shall  be  paid  by  the  re- 
ceiver as  they  arise.  The  allowances  to  the  general  receiver 
and  his  assistants  for  the  expenses  of  collecting  the  revenues 
shall  not  exceed  5  per  cent,  unless  by  agreement  between  the 
two  governments.  On  the  first  day  of  each  calendar  month 
the  sum  of  $100,000  shall  be  paid  over  by  the  receiver  to  the 
fiscal  agent  of  the  loan  and  the  remaining  collection  of  the  last 
preceding  month  shall  be  paid  over  to  the  Dominican  Govern- 
ment or  applied  to  the  sinking  fund  for  the  purchase  or  redemp- 
tion of  bonds  as  the  Dominican  Government  shall  direct. 


APPENDIXES  417 

"  Provided,  that  in  case  the  customs  revenues  collected  by 
the  general  receiver  shall  in  any  year  exceed  the  sum  of  $3,000,- 
000,  one-half  of  the  surplus  above  such  sum  of  $3,000,000 
shall  be  applied  to  the  sinking  fund  for  the  redemption  of 
bonds. 

"  Second.  The  Dominican  Government  will  provide  by  law 
for  the  payment  of  all  customs  duties  to  the  general  receiver 
and  his  assistants  and  will  give  to  them  all  needful  aid  and 
assistance  and  full  protection  to  the  extent  of  its  powers.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  will  give  to  the  general  re- 
ceiver and  his  assistants  such  protection  as  it  may  find  to  be 
requisite  for  the  performance  of  their  duties. 

**  Third.  Until  the  Dominican  Republic  has  paid  the  whole 
amount  of  the  bonds  of  the  debt  its  public  debt  shall  not  be 
increased  except  by  previous  agreement  with  the  United  States 
Government.  A  like  agreement  shall  be  necessary  to  modify 
the  import  duties,  it  being  an  indispensable  condition  for  the 
modification  of  such  duties  that  the  Dominican  Executive  dem- 
onstrate and  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  recog- 
nise that  on  the  basis  of  exportations  and  importations  to  the 
like  amount  and  the  like  character  during  the  two  years  pre- 
ceding that  in  which  it  is  desired  to  make  such  modification, 
the  total  net  customs  receipts  would  at  such  altered  rates  of 
duties  have  been  for  each  of  such  two  years  in  excess  of  the 
sum  of  $2,000,000  United  States  gold. 

"  Fourth.  The  accounts  of  the  general  receiver  shall  be  ren- 
dered monthly  to  the  Contaduria  General  of  the  Dominican 
Republic  and  to  the  State  Department  of  the  United  States, 
and  shall  be  subject  to  examination  and  verification  by  the 
appropriate  officers  of  the  Dominican  and  the  United  States 
Governments. 

"  Fifth.  This  agreement  shall  take  effect  after  its  approval 
by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  and  the  Congress  of  the 
Dominican  Republic, 

"  Done  in  four  originals,  two  being  in  the  English  language 
and  two  in  Spanish,  and  the  representatives  of  the  high  con- 


4i8  APPENDIXES 

tracting  parties  signing  them   in  the  city  of   Santo   Domingo 
this  8th  day  of  February,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1907. 

"  Emiliano  Tejera, 
"  Federico   Velazquez, 
"  Thomas  C.  Dawson." 


NOTE  II 

The  Dominican  Republic,  occupying  the  eastern  and  larger 
half  of  the  island  of  Santo  Domingo  or  Hayti,  has  a  total 
area  of  18,045  square  miles  and  a  population  of  610,000  in- 
habitants. Its  area  is  thus  equal  to  that  of  the  States  of  Mary- 
land, Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  while  its  density  of 
population  is  34  per  square  mile,  or  one-half  more  than  that 
of  the  United  States  (23.2  per  square  mile). 

The  island  is  the  second  largest  of  the  Antilles,  lying  be- 
tween Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  separated  from  the  former  by  the 
Windward  Passage  and  by  Mona  Passage  from  the  latter.  Its 
territory  is  divided  between  the  Dominican  Republic  and  the 
Republic  of  Hayti. 

Its  topography  shows  numerous  elevations  forming  four  al- 
most parallel  mountain  ranges  which  considerably  modify  the 
otherwise  tropical  climate,  and  together  with  the  sea  breezes 
give  Santo  Domingo  a  most  delightful  climate.  Mount  Tina, 
10,300  feet  above  sea  level,  is  the  highest  peak  on  the  island  and 
in  the  West  Indies. 

Santo  Domingo  for  more  than  a  century  formed  the  basis  of 
operations  for  the  Spanish  explorers  and  conquistadores,  and  the 
capital  of  the  present  Dominican  Republic  may  justly  lay  claim 
to  have  been  the  metropolis  of  the  vast  colonial  empire  of  Spain. 

The  hard  work  and  cruel  treatment  to  which  the  Indians 
were  subjected  caused  them  to  die  in  large  numbers,  and  the 
introduction  of  slaves  from  Africa  was  begun  as  early  as  15 17, 
when  4,000  were  introduced  in  one  year. 

From  1820  to  1861  the  Dominican  Republic  was  inde- 
pendent or  under  the  rule  of  the  Haytians. 


APPENDIXES  419 

In  the  year  1861,  through  constant  fear  of  foreign  invasion, 
the  republic  appealed  to  Spain  for  protection,  and  on  March 
18,  1 86 1,  was  formally  annexed  to  that  country.  This  rule, 
however,  soon  became  intolerable  and  a  revolution,  initiated 
at  Capotillo  on  August  16,  1863,  resulted  in  the  restoration 
of  the  Dominican  Republic,  the  Spanish  Crown  relinquishing 
all  claim  to  the  country  on  May  i,   1865. 

NOTE  III 

The  prosperity  prevailing  in  the  Dominican  Republic  at  the 
close  of  1908  was  amply  demonstrated  by  the  trade  volume  of 
the  year,  in  which  a  gain  of  nearly  $2,000,000  was  recorded  as 
compared  with  1907.  This  was  entirely  on  the  side  of  exports. 
Cacao,  sugar,  and  coffee  which,  with  tobacco  and  bananas, 
constitute  over  94  per  cent,  of  the  total  exports,  showed  notable 
increases,  shipments  of  cacao  being  reported  as  nearly  double 
those  of  the  year  previous.  The  sum  of  $1,529,729.05  was 
deposited  in  New  York  for  the  service  of  the  foreign  debt  and 
a  generally  favourable  condition  was  noted  in  all  lines  of 
progress. 

Not  only  is  the  Dominican  Government  formulating  exten- 
sive irrigation  plans  for  the  adequate  cultivation  of  its  land 
areas,  but  has  also  under  consideration  the  construction  of  such 
railways  as  will  place  the  products  of  the  country  within  reach 
of  the  coast,  special  funds  from  the  government  revenues  being 
set  aside  for  this  purpose.  The  recent  establishment  of  an 
Academy  of  Fine  Arts  in  the  capital  of  the  republic  is  an 
earnest  of  the  stimulus  given  by  the  government  to  higher 
education. 

The  declaration  of  amnesty  for  political  offenders  resulted  in 
the  return  of  many  citizens  to  peaceful  occupations  in  the 
country,  thus  assisting  in  the  development  of  the  resources  of 
the  republic. 

Financial  conditions  are  in  every  way  prosperous,  and  ample 
capital  is  available  for  the  exploitation  of  the  public  works  un- 


420  APPENDIXES 

dertaken  by  the  government.  On  January  i,  1909,  the  republic 
was  carrying  in  New  York  a  credit  balance  of  $6,616,850  in 
bonds  and  $947,973  in  cash. 

The  revenues  of  the  republic  in  1908  amounted  to  $4,175,- 
033.24,  of  which  sum  $3,232,889.93  represented  the  amount 
of  customs  receipts,  from  which  collections  the  receivership 
transmitted  for  deposit  with  the  Morton  Trust  Company,  in 
New  York,  the  fiscal  agent  and  designated  depositary  of  the 
Dominican  Loan,  the  sum  of  $1,529,729.05  to  apply  to  the 
service  of  the  debt.  Of  this  sum  $1,200,000  was  for  payment 
of  interest  and  amortisation  of  the  5  per  cent,  customs  admin- 
istration sinking-fund  gold  bonds,  as  authorised  by  the  terms 
of  the  American-Dominican  convention. 

The  Dominican  National  Congress  has  estimated  the  public 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  republic  for  the  fiscal  year 
1908-9  at  $3,984,300.  From  customs  it  is  estimated  that 
$3,239,200  will  be  received;  from  internal  taxes,  $388,800; 
communication,  $44,000;  consular  dues,  $14,500;  stamp  tax, 
$60,000;  and  from  certain  specified  state  properties,  $237,800. 

These  receipts  are  distributed  among  the  various  adminis- 
trative departments,  the  sum  of  $1,808,708  being  assigned  to 
the  Department  of  Treasury  and  Commerce,  of  which  $30,000 
is  to  be  expended  in  taking  a  census  of  the  republic.  The 
sum  of  $76,800  is  also  appropriated  for  extending  existing  rail- 
way construction  and  $75,000  for  irrigation  works  in  Monte 
Cristi  Province.  The  building  of  roads,  the  construction  and 
repair  of  light-houses,  and  other  public  improvements  were 
authorised. 

COMMERCE 

Predictions  heretofore  made  as  to  the  betterment  of  trade 
conditions  in  the  republic  have  been  fully  justified.  The  trade 
volume  for  the  year  was  $14,613,807,  as  compared  with  $I2,- 
794)657  in  1907.  Exports  amounted  to  $9,486,344  and  im- 
ports to  $5,127,463.     The  gain  indicated   for  the  total  com- 


APPENDIXES 


421 


merce  was  entirely  on  the  side  of  exports,  imports  showing  an 
inconsiderable  decline. 

The  United  States,  Germany,  and  France,  as  in  1907,  pur- 
chased the  bulk  of  Dominican  exports,  while  the  same  coun- 
tries, with  Great  Britain,  were  the  principal  sources  of  im- 
ports.   These  countries  figured  in  the  order  of  value  as  follows: 


Countries 

EXPORTS  TO 

IMPORTS   FROM 

United  States 

$4,212,449 

4,220,289 

907,898 

145.708 

$2,891,722 

Germany 

868,230 

France  

212,002 

Great  Britain 

788,621 

Other  Countries 

366,888 

The  leading  article  of  export  was  cacao,  amounting  to  41,- 
903,470  pounds  and  valued  at  $4,269,047.  Over  two-thirds 
of  the  cacao  crop  went  to  Germany,  the  remainder  being  equally 
divided  between  the  United  States  and  France.  The  yield 
was  nearly  double  that  of  the  preceding  year. 

The  sugar  crop  amounted  to  69,703  tons,  valued  at  $3,092,- 
429. 

The  tobacco  yield  was  valued  at  $1,009,608. 

The  railway  mileage  of  the  republic  has  been  increased  to 
about   150. 

Altogether  a  very  encouraging  state  of  affairs  for  the  Do- 
minicans and  the  owners  of  their  bonds. 

Total  imports  for  the  year  1909  valued  in  U.  S.  currency 
amounted  to  $4,425,913.  Total  exports  for  same  period, 
$8,113,690. 

Veins  of  auriferous  quartz  are  found  all  along  the  central 
mountain  chain,  and  alluvial  gold  is  found  in  numerous  places 
in  the  north.  Copper  is  next  in  importance  on  account  of  the 
quantities  in  which  it  is  found.  Iron  is  found  in  immense 
quantities  in  several  sections  of  the  country  and  coal  deposits 
abound  in  the  extensive  valley  lying  between  the  central  range, 


422  APPENDIXES 

or  the  Gran  Cordillera  and  the  Cordillera  Setentrional,  or 
Monte  Cristi  chain,  those  of  the  Pacificador  district  being  the 
best  known. 

The  petroleum  belt  measures  over  190  square  miles  in  area, 
oil  being  found  in  abundance  in  the  Province  of  Azua. 

Silver  has  been  obtained  in  a  very  pure  state  from  the  Tanci 
mine  in  the  Puerto  Plata  municipality  and  deposits  of  this 
metal  are  found  in  other  sections  of  the  country,  as  well  as 
deposits  of  platinum,  quicksilver,  and  tin.  Large  salt  de- 
posits also  exist  in  the  mountains  west  of  Neyba,  the  salt  being 
perfectly  pure,  and  the  deposits  give  evidence  of  containing  salt 
in  inexhaustible  quantities.  At  Caldera  Bay  salt  is  obtained 
from  sea  water  by  solar  evaporation. 

During  the  last  ten  years  the  Dominican  Republic  has  ex- 
ported cabinet  and  construction  woods,  mahogany,  lignum- 
vitae,  satinwood,  etc.,  to  the  value  of  considerably  over  half 
a  million  dollars.  On  the  other  hand  it  has  imported,  during 
the  same  period,  practically  all  the  lumber  used  for  building 
purposes,  costing  in  round  numbers  about  $2,000,000.  This 
condition  exists  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  are  on  the  island 
great  forests  of  excellent  building  woods.  These  include  many 
varieties  of  great  economic  value,  but  the  one  which  is  best 
known  to  the  lumberman  and  which  probably  exists  in  the 
largest  quantity  is  the  yellow  pine.  It  has  been  variously  esti- 
mated that  there  are  from  1,000,000  to  1,500,000  acres  of  mer- 
chantable pine  in  the  republic. 

NOTE  IV 

Santo  Domingo  is  doubtless  rich  in  minerals,  but  owing  to 
the  "  civic  commotions  "  of  the  past  twenty  years  the  develop- 
ment of  its  mineral  resources  has  hardly  begun.  The  interior 
of  Santo  Domingo  is  to  scientific  research  a  virgin  field. 

The  most  reliable  information  obtainable  on  this  subject  is 
the  report  of  William  P.  Blake,  geologist,  printed  as  Executive 
Document  of  the  Senate,  No.  9,  Forty-second  Congress.  In 
this  report  Mr.  Blake  says: 


APPENDIXES  423 

"  A  brown  ore  of  iron  is  very  abundant  over  considerable 
areas  in  the  interior,  either  in  beds  or  lying  in  detached  blocks 
upon  the  surface.  It  is  the  species  known  as  limonite,  but  it 
is  combined  with  silicious  sand  and  gravel,  forming  a  solid 
cemented  mass.  Whether  it  has  phosphorus  or  other  hurtful 
impurities  can  only  be  ascertained  by  analysis  or  trial.  There 
is  an  abundance  of  limestone  for  flux,  and  charcoal  could  be 
had  at  a  moderate  cost,  but  I  doubt  whether,  even  under 
favourable  circumstances,  pig-iron  could  be  profitably  produced 
there  in  competition  with  localities  where  a  variety  of  ores  can 
be  obtained  and  where  skilled  labour  is  abundant. 

"  There  is  a  very  considerable  extent  of  gold-bearing  coun- 
try in  the  interior,  and  gold  is  washed  from  the  rivers  at  vari- 
ous points.  It  is  found  along  the  Jaina,  upon  the  Verde,  and 
upon  the  Yaqui  and  its  tributaries,  and  doubtless  upon  the 
large  rivers  of  the  interior.  Some  portions  of  the  gold  fields 
were  worked  anciently  by  the  Spaniards  and  Indians.  There 
are  doubtless  many  gold  deposits,  not  only  along  the  beds  of 
rivers  but  on  the  hills,  which  have  never  been  worked,  and 
there  probably  is  considerable  gold  remaining  among  the  old 
workings.  The  appearances  of  the  soil  and  rocks  are  such  as  to 
justify  the  labour  and  expense  of  carefully  prospecting  the  gold 
region.  The  conditions  for  working  are  favourable.  The 
supply  of  water  for  washing  is  unlimited,  and  sufficient  fall 
or  drainage  can  generally  be  had.  The  women  in  the  interior 
obtain  a  small  quantity  of  gold  by  washing  the  gravel  in 
bateas. 

"  Ores  of  copper  occur  on  the  southern  flank  of  the  moun- 
tains between  Azua  and  the  river  Jaina.  Samples  obtained 
by  me  are  yellow  copper  ore  of  fair  richness,  and  some  samples 
are  of  the  species  known  as  variegated  copper.  The  beds  are 
said  to  compare  favourably  with  similar  deposits  of  ore  in  the 
foothills  of  the  mountains  in  California.  I  was  not  able  to  visit 
the  mines,  but  samples  were  obtained  for  assay. 

"  The  lignite  deposits  of  the  Samana  peninsula  have  already 
been  made  the  subject  of  a  special   investigation  and   report. 


424  APPENDIXES 

No  evidences  of  the  existence  of  older  and  true  coal  could  be 
found." 

The  total  foreign  trade  of  the  Dominican  Republic  for  the 
year  19 lo,  according  to  the  report  to  President  Caceres  by  Sr. 
Don  Federico  Velazquez  H.,  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Treasury  and  Commerce,  in  February,  191 1,  amounted 
to  $17,333,209,  of  which  $6,408,838  were  imports  and  $10,- 
924,371  were  exports.  The  report  states  that  the  increase 
for  the  year  1910  over  the  figures  for  1909  were:  Imports, 
$2,047,410;   exports,   $2,361,600;   total,   $4,409,010. 

The  total  foreign  trade,  compiled  from  data  furnished  the 
Pan-American  Union  by  the  General  Receivership  of  the  Do- 
minican Republic,  for  the  year  1910  amounted  to  $17,107,314, 
of  which  $6,257,691  were  imports  and  $10,849,623  exports. 
For  the  year  1909  the  figures  were:  Imports,  $4,425,913;  ex- 
ports, $8,113,690,  or  a  total  of  $12,539,603.  There  was, 
therefore,  an  increase  in  imports  in  19 10  as  compared  with  1909 
of  $1,831,778,  and  exports  $2,735,933,  or  a  total  increase  for 
the  year  of  $4,567,711. 

The  figures  of  the  two  reports,  while  apparently  differing, 
are  in  reality  derived  from  the  same  source.  The  data  fur- 
nished by  the  General  Receivership  includes  only  imports  on 
which  duties  had  prior  to  January  1,  1911,  been  already  col- 
lected. The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  and  Commerce 
takes  into  account,  in  addition,  other  goods  which  in  the  clos- 
ing days  of  the  j^ear  were  actually  imported,  but  upon  which 
the  customs  duties  remained  unliquidated. 

NOTE  V 

I  ESTEEM  myself  very  fortunate  in  being  able  to  place  be- 
fore my  readers  extracts  from  an  address  which  the  Hon. 
Philander  C.  Knox  delivered  before  the  New  York  State  Bar 
Association  on  January  19,  1912.  It  is  a  very  impartial, 
though  eloquent,  description  of  the  good  work  which  has  been 


APPENDIXES  425 

done  by  the  United  States  in  Santo  Domingo  and  a  masterly 
argument  in  favour  of  the  extension  of  similar  good  offices 
to  the  Central  American  Republics  of  Honduras  and  Nicaragua, 
which  are  both   on   the  verge  of   insolvency. 

"  In  1904  the  Dominican  Republic  presented  a  situation 
which  threatened  to  lead  to  the  gravest  consequences  so  far  as 
the  United  States  was  concerned.  For  years  the  country  had 
been  torn  by  internal  dissension  and  revolutions  until  the  in- 
stability of  the  so-called  government  had  become  a  byword  and 
the  credit  of  the  nation  had  been  reduced  to  such  a  condition 
that  usurious  rates  of  interest  were  demanded  and  obtained  by 
those  who  were  willing  to  furnish  the  tottering  republic  with 
funds.  It  was  also  customary  for  the  lenders  of  money  to 
demand  as  security  for  the  payment  of  interest  and  principal 
the  hypothecation  of  the  revenues  of  the  various  seaports  of  the 
country  until  at  length  the  Dominican  people  found  themselves 
in  a  position  where  practically  the  revenues  of  every  port  in  the 
republic  were  pledged  for  the  payment  of  debts.  There  were 
no  funds  left  wherewith  to  maintain  the  government,  the  total 
revenues  from  imports  and  exports  had  for  years  been  insufficient 
to  meet  even  the  interest  on  the  outstanding  indebtedness,  and 
the  people  of  the  island  had  been  brought  face  to  face  with 
national  bankruptcy.  • 

"  In  this  posture  of  affairs  the  creditors  of  the  nation,  who 
were  for  the  greater  part  Europeans,  had  become  clamorous  for 
the  payment  of  arrears  of  interest  and  for  the  enforcement 
of  the  pledges  of  the  revenues  of  the  various  ports  of  the 
country,  which  pledges  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  violate 
if  funds  were  to  be  had  for  the  general  government.  Protocols 
of  the  settlement  of  the  various  debts  had  been  signed  with 
Germany,  Spain,  and  Italy  two  years  previously  with  the 
terms  of  which  it  had  been  impossible  for  the  Dominican 
Republic  to  comply,  and  the  creditors  had  decided  to  invoke 
the  aid  of  their  governments  in  the  collection  of  what  they 
claimed   to   be   their   due.     An    Italian   warship   was   actually 


426  APPENDIXES 

despatched  to  Dominican  waters  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
agreements  with  Italian  subjects.  The  Monroe  Doctrine,  in- 
deed, seemed  menaced  and  the  Dominican  Government  appealed 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  for  assistance  in  its 
extremity. 

"  This  appeal  for  assistance  led,  as  you  know,  to  a  plan  of 
adjustment  whereby  the  custom-houses  of  the  republic  were  to 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  American  officials  and  a  portion  of 
the  receipts  thereof  was  to  be  held  on  deposit  in  New  York 
for  the  benefit  of  all  creditors  alike.  It  is  also  a  matter  of 
history  that  subsequently  an  equitable  adjustment  was  had  with 
the  creditors,  the  debt  was  refunded,  and  a  convention  be- 
tween this  Government  and  the  Dominican  Republic  was 
negotiated  whereby  the  collection  and  administration  of  the 
customs  revenues  of  the  republic  were  placed  in  the  hands  of 
American  officials,  who  were  to  receive  from  the  United  States 
*  such  protection  as  it  may  find  to  be  requisite.  .  .  . '  An  ade- 
quate provision  for  the  service  of  the  debt  was  made,  and  a 
new  order  of  things  thus  began  and  has  continued  ever 
since. 

"  The  result  of  the  operations  of  this  arrangement  has  been 
that  the  creditors  now  punctually  receive  their  interest,  and 
there  is  at  preserit  turned  over  to  the  Dominican  Government 
for  the  purposes  of  defraying  its  current  expenses  an  amount 
far  in  excess  of  what  the  total  revenues  of  the  republic  had 
previously  been.  Since  the  American  management  of  the  cus- 
toms has  existed  it  has  been  found  possible  to  reduce  the  im- 
port tariff  by  approximately  one-half,  notwithstanding  which 
the  import  duties  have  increased  from  one  million  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  in  1904  to  over  three  million  three 
hundred  thousand  in  191 1,  while  the  total  foreign  trade  of 
the  republic  has  grown  from  about  six  millions  to  over  seven- 
teen millions  of  dollars  in  the  same  period,  and  the  annual 
harvest  of  revolutions  is  no  longer  gathered  and  military  ex- 
penses which  formerly  depleted  the  treasury  have  been  reduced 
to  a  minimum. 


APPENDIXES  427 

"  The  problem  presented  by  affairs  in  the  Dominican  Re- 
public in  1904  has  now  become  a  reality  in  Honduras  and 
Nicaragua,  and  those  republics  have  sought  the  interposition  of 
the  United  States. 

"The  situation  is,  briefly,  this: 

"  Practically  from  the  outset  the  republics  of  Central 
America,  especially  Honduras  and  Nicaragua,  have  been  often 
torn  with  internal  dissension  and  overrun  with  revolutions. 
In  Honduras  and  Nicaragua  these  ills  are  still  prevalent. 
Beset  with  strife  these  less  fortunate  republics,  although  en- 
dowed by  Providence  with  vast  natural  resources,  have  never 
been  permitted  to  progress  towards  a  normal  and  economic 
development.  Early  in  their  existence  as  independent  states  they 
found  their  treasuries  depleted  and  their  resources  squandered 
in  futile  attempts  to  suppress  internal  disorder,  and  as  a  natural 
result  they  have  been  continuously  compelled  to  borrow  at  ex- 
orbitant rates  of  interest  from  those  willing  to  incur  the  dis- 
proportionate risk  of  lending  them  the  moneys  necessary  for  the 
temporary  conduct  of  government,  with  the  result  that  they 
now  find  themselves  hopelessly  entangled  in  the  mesh  of 
enormous  and  rapidly  increasing  national  indebtedness.  Their 
revenues  have  never  been  properly  applied  so  as  to  meet  the 
ever-increasing  demands  of  their  national  creditors. 

"  Because  of  the  difficulty  of  communication  in  these  countries 
the  custom-houses  have  ever  been  the  objective  point  of  the 
revolutionists,  and  successive  contests  for  their  control  have 
marked  the  national  existence.  Once  having  lost  control  of 
the  custom-houses  and  the  revenues  derived  therefrom,  the  con- 
stituted authorities  have  found  themselves  confronted  with  a 
lack  of  funds  and  have  ultimately  been  deprived  of  the  means 
necessary  to  defend  the  capitals. 

"  Control  of  the  custom-houses  once  obtained,  it  becomes 
necessary  for  the  successful  revolutionists  to  expend  enormous 
sums,  practically  the  entire  national  revenue,  in  the  maintenance 
of  an  army  adequate  to  continue  them  in  control.  Under  such 
circumstances  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  national  debt 


428  APPENDIXES 

has  been  out  of  the  question,  and  such  governments  fall  Into  a 
state  of  hopeless  default  which  deprives  them  of  any  further 
foreign  credit. 

"  Honduras  and  Nicaragua  alike  occupy  a  central  position 
stretching  from  the  Caribbean  to  the  Pacific  and  separating 
the  other  Central  American  republics.  In  Central  America 
there  are  many  rivalries  as  between  the  heads  of  the  five  re- 
publics, but  there  has  seldom  been  an  open  breach  between  them 
which  has  resulted  in  an  international  war.  Rather  than  seek 
a  direct  means  of  redressing  their  grievances  it  has  been  found 
far  more  effective  and  less  dangerous  than  open  hostility  for 
the  president  seeking  to  injure  his  neighbour  to  institute  and 
set  on  foot  a  revolution  of  political  malcontents  against  the 
government.  For  j'ears  the  revolutions  and  internal  com- 
motions of  several  of  these  republics  have  been  caused  by 
their  neighbours  who  have  taken  advantage  of  their  position  to 
harbour  political  refugees  from  their  neighbours  and  aid  or 
permit  them  to  foster  a  hostile  movement  against  their  native 
republic,  which  is  fomented  in  security  without  the  borders 
of  the  country  at  whose  government  it  is  aimed,  and  which  is 
then  permitted  to  cross  the  international  line  at  some  con- 
venient location,  thence  to  contend   for  supremacy. 

"  Honduras,  because  it  borders  on  three  of  the  other  repub- 
lics, Guatemala,  Salvador,  and  Nicaragua,  has  for  years  been 
the  hotbed  of  most  of  the  internal  disturbances  of  its  neigh- 
bours, and  in  fact  has  been  the  cockpit  of  Central  America. 
So  great  has  been  the  abuse  of  the  undefended  central  position 
occupied  by  Honduras  that  as  long  ago  as  1907  all  the  republics 
of  Central  America  joined  in  a  peace  conference  and  signed  at 
Washington,  under  our  auspices,  a  convention  one  article  of 
which  had  for  an  object  the  neutralisation  of  the  territory  of 
that  republic  so  as  to  prevent  its  further  use  as  a  centre  of 
disturbance. 

"  Under  such  conditions  the  Republics  of  Honduras  and 
Nicaragua  came  to  seek  the  counsel  and  assistance  of  the 
United  States. 


APPENDIXES  429 

"  Provided  the  enormous  waste  on  military  establishments 
could  be  checked,  the  customs  revenues  of  both  these  countries, 
properly  administered,  should  be  ample  to  meet  the  interest  and 
sinking-fund  on  their  just  national  obligations,  and  it  is  in 
order  to  establish  a  system  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  end 
that  the  present  conventions  have  been  framed. 

"  It  may  be  asked.  What  are  the  provisions  of  the  two 
practically  identical  treaties  as  drawn  for  the  purpose  of  cur- 
ing the  evils  of  the  situation  as  already  set  forth? 

"  The  preambles  of  the  two  conventions  point  to  the  recog- 
nised and  urgent  necessity,  in  each  case,  of  laying  the  founda- 
tion for  more  effective  helpfulness  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  in  assisting  the  Republics  of  Nicaragua  and  Honduras 
to  the  rehabilitation  of  their  respective  finances  and  in  thus 
making  possible  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  prosperity  in  the 
two  countries,  and  they  recite  the  fact  that  the  active  aid  of 
this  Government  has  been  requested  to  this  end.  Then  follow 
the  four  articles  of  the  conventions.  These  include  some  eight 
points  and  I  shall  try  briefly  to  epitomise  them,  roughly  indi- 
cating the  objects  of  the  different  provisions. 

"  In  order  to  avoid  the  danger  of  further  embarrassment 
with  foreign  creditors,  the  conventions  provide  (first)  that  a 
loan  shall  be  placed  in  the  United  States;  in  order  to  provide 
that  the  bankers'  contracts,  which  it  will  be  necessary  to 
negotiate  to  work  out  the  details  of  their  financial  problems, 
may  be  equitable  and  just,  and  also  that  they  may  be  properly 
executed,  it  is  provided  (second)  that  the  Signatory  Govern- 
ments shall  take  due  note  of  the  terms  and  shall  consult  in  case 
of  any  difficulties.  That  the  loan  may  be  properly  secured,  the 
conventions  stipulate  (third)  that  the  customs  duties  shall  be 
pledged ;  that  this  security  may  be  adequate  and  may  not  be 
interfered  with,  it  is  agreed  (fourth)  that  the  customs  duties 
shall  not  be  changed  without  the  consent  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States.  To  assure  the  proper  collection  and  ad- 
ministration of  the  customs  by  a  competent  person,  it  is  pro- 
vided   (fifth)    that  a  receiver-general  of  customs  shall   be  ap- 


430  APPENDIXES 

pointed  by  the  government  of  the  country  concerned  from  a 
h'st  of  names  prepared  by  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  contemplated 
loan  and  approved  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  To 
insure  the  proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  receiver-general 
of  customs,  it  is  agreed  (sixth)  that  he  shall  be  under  obliga- 
tion to  report  annually,  and  upon  request,  to  both  parties  to  the 
conventions.  In  order  that  he  may  effectively,  conscientiously, 
and  independently  perform  his  functions,  and  to  prevent  cus- 
toms-houses continuing  to  be  the  goal  of  revolutionists,  it  is 
stipulated  (seventh)  that  the  government  of  the  country  con- 
cerned will  protect  him,  and  (eighth)  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  shall  afford  him  such  protection  as  it  may 
deem  requisite,  there  being  thus  obtained  just  so  much  assur- 
ance of  stable  conditions  and  proper  customs  collections  as  will 
enable  Nicaragua  and  Honduras  to  borrow  the  money  necessary 
to  rehabilitate  their  national  finances  at  anything  like  a  rea- 
sonable rate  of  interest. 

"  I  wish  to  call  especial  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the 
Dominican  Republic  just  this  potential  safeguard,  unexercised 
and  without  any  undue  interference  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  has  cured  almost  century-old  evils,  and  to  ask  you  to 
judge  these  conventions  in  the  light  of  the  plain  facts. 

"  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  confusion  of  ideas  in  regard 
to  the  relation  of  the  conventions  to  banking  arrangements  for 
the  rehabilitation  of  Honduran  and  Nicaraguan  finances.  The 
conventions  themselves  are  quite  separate  from  any  bankers' 
contracts.  They  may  be  ratified  and  put  in  force  as  between 
the  governments  concerned,  but  they  remain  purely  potential 
unless  and  until  bankers'  contracts  are  negotiated  which  are 
deemed  acceptable  by  both  governments,  and,  in  the  case  of 
the  governments  of  Nicaragua  and  Honduras,  which  would 
be  direct  parties  to  the  contracts,  approved  by  their  legislative 
assemblies.  The  sole  desire  of  the  Department  of  State  has 
been  that  Nicaragua  and  Honduras  make  the  best  contracts 
that  are  possible  under  the  conditions  and  it  is  gratifying  that 
American  bankers  have  been  able  to  undertake  the  business. 


APPENDIXES  431 

"  The  government  of  Nicaragua  has  already  approved  the 
convention  and,  to  relieve  its  urgent  and  pressins;  necessities, 
has  placed  a  preliminary  loan  in  the  United  States  and  engaged 
American  citizens — one  as  financial  adviser,  two  as  claims 
commissioners,  one  as  collector-general  of  customs,  and  one 
as  assistant  collector-general  of  customs — and  in  this  way  has 
laid  a  foundation  for  its  financial  regeneration.  This,  however, 
is  merely  a  temporary  expedient,  and  what  has  been  done  must 
be  lost  and  the  bright  prospect  destroyed  unless  the  convention, 
upon  which  the  future  important  and  permanent  improvements 
depend,  is  ratified  by  the  United  States. 

"  If  these  conventions  are  put  into  operation  what  has  hap- 
pened in  the  Dominican  Republic  will  be  repeated  in  the  Re- 
publics of  Nicaragua  and  Honduras,  which  are  the  key  to  the 
peace  of  the  whole  of  Central  America,  and  within  a  few  years 
the  revolutions  which  keep  these  countries  in  a  state  of  con- 
stant unrest  will  be  eliminated ;  the  neutrality  of  Honduras 
and  Nicaragua  in  Central  American  affairs  will  become  an 
accomplished  fact;  and  the  peace  of  the  rest  of  Central 
America  will  be  immensely  strengthened. 

"  These  conventions,  as  I  have  said,  are  not  a  new  experi- 
ment; in  principle  they  have  been  tried  and  it  has  been  found 
that  they  produce  results  beneficial  to  the  debtor  and  creditor 
alike.  Instead  of  producing  foreign  entanglements  they  have 
precisely  the  opposite  effect  because  they  do  away  with  the 
present  discontent  and  clamour  of  foreign  creditors,  because 
they  insure  prosperity,  and  because  they  make  for  peace. 

"  Alone,  these  countries  find  it  impossible  to  extricate  them- 
selves from  the  thraldom  of  civil  strife,  and  they  quite  naturally 
look  to  their  more  prosperous  and  powerful  neighbour  for  aid 
and  guidance.  Shall  we  refuse  it  any  more  than  we  refused  to 
heed  the  cry  of  Cuba  or  that  of  the  Dominican  Republic? 

"  With  the  Monroe  Doctrine  as  a  tenet  of  our  national 
faith  can  we  refuse  to  these  republics  that  measure  of  assist- 
ance which  will  render  their  governments  stable  and  keep 
them  from  foreign  interference  ?  " 


432  APPENDIXES 

APPENDIX  D 

Venezuela 

[Area,  593,943  square  miles,  after  deducting  the  60,000  square  miles 
awarded  to  Great  Britain  by  the  arbitration  proceedings  in  1899; 
population  in  1903  estimated  at  2,633,671.] 

The  total  commerce  of  Venezuela  during  the  fiscal  year 
ended  June,  1906,  was  $24,306,000,  of  which  $8,676,000  were 
imports  and  $15,630,000  exports.  Of  the  imports,  30.2  per 
cent,  was  from  the  United  States,  and  of  the  exports  31.1  per 
cent,  was  sent  to  the  United  States.  The  official  figures  of  the 
United  States  with  reference  to  its  trade  with  Venezuela  show 
that  the  imports  from  that  country  declined  from  $10,966,765 
in  1890  to  $5,500,019  in  1900,  and  increased  to  $7,852,214 
in  1907,  and  the  exports  thereto  declined  from  $4,028,583  in 
1890  to  $2,452,757  in  1900,  and  increased  to  $3,024,629  in 
1907,  these  being  fiscal-year  figures  in  all  cases. 

Taking  the  three  latest  years  for  which  data  are  available,  we 
find  that  both  the  imports  and  exports  are  still  much  smaller 
than  they  were  fifteen  or  twenty  years  ago,  the  imports  oscillat- 
ing between  8  and  11  million  dollars  and  being  smaller  in  1906 
than  they  had  been  in  1904,  while  the  exports  are  nearly 
double  the  imports  and  yet  10  million  dollars  less  than  in  189 1. 
The  commercial  conditions  of  Venezuela  are  especially  impor- 
tant for  the  reason  that  both  in  imports  and  exports  the  United 
States  occupies  the  first  place,  according  to  the  data  of  the  latest 
two  years. 

Caracas,  the  capital,  is  a  city  of  about  75,000  people. 
Racially,  the  people  of  the  country  are  a  mixture.  The  native 
Indian  population  exceeds  300,000.  Foreigners  are  estimated 
at  a  little  less  than  50,000,  about  one-quarter  Spaniards,  one- 
fifth  Colombians,  one-eighth  British,  with  2,500  to  4,000  each 
of  Dutch,  Italians,  and  French.  This  misgoverned  medley  of 
white,  brown,  black,  and  Indian  occupies  one  of  the  richest 
areas  of  the  earth's  surface.     It  is  a  land  of  fertile  soil,  vast 


APPENDIXES  433 

and  virgin  forests  and,  probably,  endless  mineral  wealth.  Be- 
tween 1884  and  1899  the  Callao  gold  mines  alone  yielded  $23,- 
cxx),ooo. 

The  country  divides  itself  naturally  into  three  parts — the 
north  coast  strip,  the  valleys  of  the  Orinoco  and  its  confluents, 
and  the  southward  projecting  area  of  Amazonas  territory,  lying 
between  the  equator  and  the  fifth  parallel  of  north  latitude. 
The  Orinoco  River,  1,500  miles  in  length,  is  navigable  for 
1,200  miles  from  its  mouth.  It  is  fed  by  436  streams  and  rivers, 
some  of  which  are  navigable  for  light-draft  vessels.  The  im- 
mediate coast  line  is  hot  and  unhealthy,  but  this  strip  is  narrow, 
and  behind  it  are  altitudes  where  the  climate  is  almost  perpetu- 
ally vernal.     The  hills  are  a  "  white  man's  country." 

FINANCE 

In  July,  1907,  Venezuela's  obligation  to  Great  Britain, 
Germany,  and  Italy,  by  virtue  of  the  protocols  of  Washington, 
was  cancelled,  the  total  sum  paid  having  aggregated  $3,567,000. 

Since  August,  1907,  Venezuela  has  paid  to  the  countries  not 
enjoying  preferential  treatment  30  per  cent,  of  the  customs  re- 
ceipts of  La  Guaira  and  Puerto  Cabello,  amounting  to,  up  to 
May   1,   1909,  $1,199,148. 

The  financial  obligations  of  the  republic  and  the  agreements 
made  by  the  government  have  been  complied  with.  During 
the  fiscal  years  1907  and  1 908,  the  expenditures  of  the  govern- 
ment on  account  of  these  obligations  amounted  to  $3,904,000, 
and  from  January  I  to  March  31,  1909,  $484,000,  or  a  total 
outlay  of  $4,388,000,  all  of  which,  in  accordance  with  the 
protocols  of  Washington,  went  to  the  foreign  Powers,  the  3 
per  cent,  diplomatic  debt  of  1905,  the  debt  contracted  on  ac- 
count of  diplomatic  agreements,  and  the  non-amortised  diplo- 
matic agreement  debt.  The  payments  on  account  of  the  internal 
debt  from  January  i,  1907,  to  March  31,  1909,  amounted  to 
$1,216,703. 

The  outstanding  internal  3  per  cent,  debt  on  March  31,  1909, 


434 


APPENDIXES 


was  $12,040,000,   and   the  outstanding  external   debt  on   the 
same  date  was  $26,253,000,  or  a  total  of  $38,293,000. 

FOREIGN    COMMERCE 

The  foreign  commerce  of  Venezuela,  compiled  from  official 
Venezuelan  reports  except  as  stated,  for  the  year  1910  amounted 
to  157,181,984.01  bolivars,  of  which  64,184,206.63  bolivars 
were  imports  and  92,997,777.38  bolivars  exports.  The  figures 
for  the  preceding  year  were  50,601,977.68  bolivars  imports  and 
83,049,922.83  bolivars  exports,  or  a  total  of  133,651,900.51 
bolivars.  This  shows  a  gain  of  13,582,228.95  bolivars  in  the 
imports  and  9,947,854.55  bolivars  in  the  exports,  or  a  total 
gain  in  the  foreign  commerce  of  23,530,083.50. 

Estimating  the  bolivar  at  19.3  cents  United  States  gold,  the 
foreign  trade  of  Venezuela  for  the  year  19 10  amounted  to 
$30,336,122.91,  of  which  $12,387,551.88  was  imports  and 
$17,948,571.03  exports.  The  gain  for  the  year  in  imports  was 
$2,621,370.19  and  in  exports  $1,919,935.93,  or  a  total  gain 
during  1910  of  $4,541,306.12. 

IMPORTS 

The  imports  by  principal  countries  for  the  two  years  were  as 
follows : 


Countries 


1909 


1910 


United  States  . . . 
United  Kingdom 

Germany 

France 

Netherlands 

Spain 

Italy 

Belgium 

Other  Countries . 

Total 


53,151,005.33 

2,348,802.36 

2,075,569.83 

659,156.91 

568,541.04 

526,824.96 

354,527.87 

42,052.36 

39,701.03 


5,766.181.69 


$3-788,539-40 

3,625,681.31 

2,039,287.37 

998,906.28 

907,004.60 

537,530.61 

333,092.27 

41,367-72 

116,142.32 


^2,387, 551. 88 


APPENDIXES  435 

There  were  increases  in  the  imports  from  the  United  States, 
the  United  Kingdom,  France,  Netherlands,  and  Spain,  and  de- 
creases in  the  imports  from  Germany,  Italy,  and  Belgium.  The 
increase  in  imports  from  the  United  States  was  $637,534.07,  or 
20.2  per  cent.;  United  Kingdom,  $1,276,878.95,  or  56.7  per 
cent.;  France,  $339,749,  or  51.5  per  cent.;  Netherlands,  $338,- 
463.56,  or  59.5  per  cent.;  and  Spain,  $10,705.65,  or  2  per  cent. 
The  decrease  in  imports  from  Germany  was  $36,282.46,  or  1.2 
per  cent.;  Italy,  $21,435.60,  or  6  per  cent.,  and  Belgium, 
$684.68,  or  I  per  cent. 

A  trade  estimate  places  import  values  at  $9,000,000  and  ex- 
ports at  $17,000,000,  though  the  latter  values  were  probably 
somewhat  smaller.  The  principal  receiving  countries  were  the 
United  States,  $5,550,073;  France,  $5,496,627;  Great  Britain, 
$1,447,784;  Germany,  $908,260;  the  Netherlands,  $763,642; 
Cuba,  $604,102;  and  Spain,  $589,560. 

United  States  statistics  note  receipts  of  Venezuelan  mer- 
chandise during  the  calendar  year  1908  to  the  value  of  $7,028,- 
180  and  shipments  to  the  republic  to  the  amount  of  $2,566,022, 
the  values  being  practically  the  same  as  in  the  preceding  twelve 
months. 

The  commerce  of  the  country  for  the  first  half  of  the  fiscal 
year,  1907-8,  consisted  of  exports  valued  at  $8,613,000  and  im- 
ports, $4,984,000.  Imports  were  received  as  follows:  From 
Great  Britain,  $1,804,000;  United  States,  $1,256,000;  Ger- 
many, $823,800,  and  the  Netherlands,  $462,400.  Shipments 
were  made  to  France,  $3,409,000;  United  States,  $3,097,000; 
Great  Britain,  $622,000;  Germany,  $485,000;  the  Nether- 
lands, $365,000;  and  Spain,  $325,000. 

The  principal  exports  were  cofFee,  cacao,  rubber,  and 
cattle. 

The  United  States  exports  to  Venezuela  were  mainly  wheat 
flour,  cotton  manufactures,  iron  and  steel  manufactures,  illu- 
minating oil,  lard,  butter,  and  smaller  quantities  of  a  large 
variety  of  other  articles. 


436  APPENDIXES 

TARIFF 

The  import  tariff  of  Venezuela  divides  foreign  merchandise 
into  nine  classes  paying  specific  rates  of  duty  as  follows :  ( i ) 
5  centimes  of  the  bolivar  per  kilogram;  (2)  10  centimes  of  the 
bolivar  per  kilogram;  (3)  25  centimes  of  the  bolivar  per 
kilogram;  (4)  75  centimes  of  the  bolivar  per  kilogram;  (5) 
I  bolivar  25  centimes  per  kilogram;  (6)  2  bolivars  50  centimes 
per  kilogram;  (7)  5  bolivars  per  kilogram;  (8)  10  bolivars 
per  kilogram;   (9)   20  bolivars  per  kilogram. 

Among  the  goods  admitted  free  of  duty  are  live  animals,  iron 
boiler  plates,  agricultural  implements,  barbed  wire  for  fencing, 
Roman  cement,  printing  papers  and  their  accessories,  certain 
kinds  of  machinery,  iron  bridges,  etc. 

In  addition  to  the  internal  3  per  cent,  debt,  and  the  ex- 
ternal debt  aggregating  over  38  millions  of  gold  dollars  to 
which  reference  has  been  made,  there  are  outstanding  at  least 
twenty  millions  of  national  obligations,  perhaps  a  few  millions 
more.  This  brings  the  aggregate  debt  close  to  sixty  million 
American  dollars,  or  nearly  three  million  yearly  in  interest 
charges.  With  the  revenue  of  the  country  ranging  between 
eight  and  fourteen  millions,  varying  according  to  the  crops  and 
political  conditions,  it  will  be  apparent  how  very  necessary  is 
a  period  of  rest  and  recuperation  if  the  republic  is  to  escape 
insolvency. 

Owing  to  excessive  taxation  Venezuela  has  few  if  any  in- 
dustries, all  manufactured  materials  required  being  imported, 
even  the  sacking  necessary  for  the  export  of  native  produce. 

APPENDIX  E 
The  United  States  of  Colombia 

NOTE  I 

The  competitors  for  the  trade  of  Colombia  are  the  United 
States,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France,  and  in  a  small  degree 


APPENDIXES  437 

Italy  and  Spain.  The  United  States,  from  its  geographical 
situation,  is  the  natural  source  of  supply  for  foodstuffs,  and 
it  should  also  be  the  leading  source  for  iron  and  steel  manu- 
facture and  perhaps  for  textiles.  It  is  not,  however.  The  in- 
crease of  70  per  cent,  in  the  duties  on  foodstuffs  has  caused  a 
large  falling  off  in  our  shipments  of  flour  and  lard. 

Figures  regarding  imports  into  Colombia,  and  in  a  lesser  de- 
gree exports  from  the  country,  are  unsatisfactory  and  decep- 
tive. It  is  apparent,  however,  that  during  the  last  year  or 
two  Great  Britain  has  taken  a  decided  stride  ahead  of  us  and 
other  competitors.  American  capitalists  have  also  seen  fit  to 
sell  out  their  control  of  the  Cartagena-Calaman  railway  and 
the  river  steamers  to  an  English  company.  As  a  result  the  neW' 
owners  naturally  purchase  their  steel  rails  and  equipment  and 
coal  in  the  United  Kingdom,  but  formerly  all  these  articles  were 
sold  by  us. 

As  in  all  other  South  American  countries,  German  enterprise 
and  commercial  good  sense  are  everywhere  apparent.  There 
is  no  German  bank,  but  the  need  of  one  is  not  apparent,  as 
several  of  the  largest  commercial  houses  do  a  large  banking 
business  with  German  capital.  In  Baranquilla  more  than 
half  the  importing  houses  are  controlled  by  German 
capital. 

France  buys  Colombian  coffee  and  rubber  direct,  and  in 
prosperous  years  the  trade  between  the  two  countries  has 
amounted  to  nine  million  dollars  annually,  but  it  is  very  fluctu- 
ating. 

The  leading  imports  of  the  United  States  from  Colombia 
are  coffee,  hides,  rubber,  cedar  and  mahogany,  gold  and  silver 
and  other  minerals. 

The  customs  revenues  of  Colombia  amount  to  about  $7,000,- 
000  annually.  They  are  collected  chiefly  on  imports,  but  the 
export  duties  on  cattle,  coal,  and  bullion  enter  into  this 
total. 

The  internal  revenues  of  the  government  are  drawn  from  a 
number  of  articles,  many  of  which  are  state  monopolies.       The 


438  APPENDIXES 

total  income  from  this  source  is  approximately  five  millions, 
the  state  monopolies  contributing  the  major  part.  The  mis- 
cellaneous sources  of  internal  revenue  include  the  stamp  tax, 
mining  taxes,  the  postal  and  telegraph  returns,  government 
railways,  and  the  salt  tax,  which  alone  yields  $500,000  an- 
nually. 

The  fiscal  system  of  Colombia,  both  as  relates  to  the  revenues 
and  as  to  currency,  centres  around  the  Banco  Central.  The 
intention  was  obviously  to  have  this  institution  bear  the  same 
relation  to  the  government  as  does  the  Bank  of  France  to 
France  and  the  Bank  of  England  to  Great  Britain,  but  in 
practice  it  is  not  worked  out  this  way.  Legal  provision  was 
made  for  the  organisation  of  the  Bank  by  legislative  decree  in 
1905.  At  that  time  the  economic  condition  of  the  country 
was  at  the  lowest  ebb  and  an  acute  financial  panic  prevailed. 
The  government,  in  straits,  appealed  to  the  established  banks  for 
a  loan  of  two  millions,  which,  however,  they  were  unable  or 
unwnlling  to  supply.  In  consequence  the  Banco  Central  was 
organised  by  a  group  of  capitalists  w'ho  enjoyed  close  rela- 
tions with  the  government.  The  capital  was  fixed  at  eight 
millions.  The  concessionaires  subscribed  60  per  cent,  of  the 
stock,  and  it  is  said  that  the  public  took  the  balance.  The 
Bank  was  given  a  franchise  of  thirty  years  for  the  exclusive 
issue  of  bank  notes  on  a  gold  basis,  the  minimum  legal  reserve 
to  be  30  per  cent.  gold.  The  Bank  has  been  in  operation  too 
short  a  period  to  justify  severe  criticism,  but  it  certainly  has 
not  cured  the  intolerable  evils  of  the  currency  system  pre- 
vailing. 

The  history  of  the  Colombian  paper  currency  is  a  melan- 
choly one,  especially  for  a  country  that  for  more  than  a  century 
coined  its  own  money  with  the  product  of  its  mines.  The  first 
paper  currency  was  only  issued  in  1881,  but  in  the  succeeding 
twenty-three  years  nearly  seven  hundred  million  dollars'  worth 
of  the  stuff  was  issued.  Some  of  this  has  been  burnt  for  sani- 
tary as  well  as  financial  reasons,  and  there  are  now  about  630,- 
000,000  paper  promises  to  pay  in  circulation.     The  fluctua- 


APPENDIXES  439 

tions  of  these  notes  have  not  been  violent,  but  in  times  of  civil 
war  and  agricultural  depression  they  drop  unceasingly. 

At  one  time  soon  after  the  separation  of  Panama,  and  when 
it  was  feared  that  the  Congressional  fire-eaters  would  declare 
war  upon  the  United  States,  exchange  was  26,000  to  100 — that 
is,  26,000  of  the  Colombian  dollar  notes  were  required  to  pur- 
chase a  draft  of  100  dollars  in  gold  on  Europe  or  the  United 
States.  After  the  inauguration  of  Reyes  as  President  a  great 
effort  for  improvement  was  made  in  this  direction,  and  it  was 
found  possible  to  maintain  exchange  within  a  point  or  two  of 
these  quotations,  and  the  paper  dollars  acquired  for  the  first 
time  something  like  stability,  on  the  basis  of  a  lOO-dollar 
note  being  worth  one  dollar  in  gold,  or,  to  put  it  in  another 
way,  the  Colombian  paper  dollar  is  worth  one  American  cent. 
These  notes  are  very  well  printed,  and  it  seems  a  wonder  how 
the  government  can  turn  them  out  for  the  return  which  they 
bring.  That  the  Colombians  themselves  are  not  without  both 
ingenuity  and  industry  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  these  paper 
dollars  which  are  worth  one  cent  are  very  largely  counter- 
feited by  the  local  artists. 

Recognising  the  necessity  of  restoring  confidence  by  means  of 
the  gold  basis,  the  public,  the  executive,  and  the  national  assem- 
bly co-operated  in  1905  in  providing  a  plan  of  conversion.  By 
legislative  decree  the  billetes  or  paper  notes  were  declared  to 
be  the  debt  of  the  nation  and  the  monetary  unit  was  declared 
to  be  the  peso  billete  of  the  Banco  Central.  As  a  conversion 
fund  the  proceeds  of  the  emerald  mines,  the  pearl  fisheries,  and 
the  ports  dues  were  set  aside.  The  old  paper  money  was  called 
in,  and  it  was  provided  that  all  notes  not  presented  before 
January  I,  1908,  would  be  outlawed.  Holders  of  these  notes 
generally  present  them  without  delay  in  order  to  secure  the 
much  coveted  gold,  and  as  long  as  such  withdrawals  continue 
the  issue  of  gold  notes  can  hardly  serve  the  purpose  intended. 
The  Banco  Central  has  also  availed  itself  of  its  privilege  of 
issuing  gold  notes  against  its  gold  reserve.     The  public  confi- 


440  APPENDIXES 

dence  is  shattered  and  shows  a  decided  preference  to  the  metal 
over  the  paper  promise. 

Senor  Carlos  Restrepo  has  been  President  since  July  15th, 
1910. 

The  external  debt,  mostly  due  to  British  creditors,  was  con- 
verted in  1896  and  new  bonds  were  issued  with  a  face  value 
of  £2,687,800.  In  Bogota  it  is  officially  announced  that  pay- 
ment of  30  per  cent,  of  the  still  outstanding  external  debt  is 
contingent  upon  Colombia  receiving  compensation  from  the 
United  States  in  respect  of  the  secession  of  Panama.  The 
strength  of  the  national  army  is  determined  by  act  of  Congress 
each  session.  The  peace-footing  strength  is  about  7,000  men. 
The  navy  consists  of  four  small  vessels,  two  of  which  are  not  re- 
garded as  seaworthy. 

For  further  information  as  to  the  resources  and  trade  condi- 
tions of  Colombia  see  the  very  valuable  report  of  Mr.  Charles 
M.  Pepper,  special  agent  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labour,  and  reprinted  and  distributed  by  the  Inter- 
national Bureau  of  American  Republics,  Washington,  1 909. 
I  have  made  liberal  use  of  this  report  in  the  above  account  of 
the   present    trade    and    fiscal    conditions   in    Colombia. 

The  value  of  the  Colombian  foreign  trade  for  the  year  19 10, 
according  to  Sr.  Don  Joaquin  Caicedo,  director  general  of 
statistics,  amounted  to  $34,650,789.79.  The  imports  were  $17,- 
025,637.05  and  the  exports  $17,625,152.74.  For  the  preced- 
ing year  the  figures,  according  to  the  report  of  Sir  Don  Tomas 
O.  Eastman,  minister  of  finance,  made  to  the  National  Assem- 
bly near  the  close  of  the  year  1910,  were:  Imports,  $12,117,927; 
exports,  $16,040,198;  total,  $28,158,125. 

Sr.  Eastman's  figures  are  in  correction  of  figures  before  pub- 
lished by  the  statistical  office  as  foUow^s:  Imports,  $10,561,047; 
exports,  $15,513,346;  total,  $26,074,393.  On  the  basis  of  Sr. 
Eastman's  figures  for  1909,  there  was  an  increase  for  1910  of 
$4,907,710  in  imports,  and  $1,584,954  in  exports,  or  a  total 
increase  of  $6,492,664. 


APPENDIXES 


441 


IMPORTS 

Values  of  the  imports  by  countries  and  articles  for  the  year 
are  not  available.  According  to  a  special  report  of  Charles 
H.  Small,  United  States  deputy  consul  general  at  Bogota,  the 
weight  of  articles  from  the  leading  countries  for  the  years  1908 
and   1909  amounted  to: 


Countries 

1908 

1909 

United  States 

Pounds 
62,712,276 
48,237,245 
37,767,883 
7,254,222 
2,420,748 
23,786,066 

Pounds 
58,909,078 
43,251,123 
23,318,339 
4,918,902 
2,874,576 
17,027,607 

United  Kingdom 

Germany 

France     

Spain 

Other  Countries 

Total 

182,178,438 

150,299,625 

On  the  basis  of  the  weight  of  the  imported  goods,  a  com- 
parison in  values  of  the  two  years  is  not  possible. 

NOTE  II 

The  following  barometric  record  of  Colombian  "  civic  com- 
motions "  is  compiled  from  official  records,  reproduced  in  a  very 
conservative  spirit: 


1864.  Murillo  was  elected  President  for  the  ensuing  two  years, 
that  being  the  term  recently  established.  A  revolution 
broke  out  in  the  "  Sovereign  State  of  Antioquia,"  and 
overthrew  the  local  government.  Murillo  observed 
strict  neutrality,  and  promptly  recognised  the  new  gov- 
ernment of  the  state.  Similar  successful  revolutions  were 
recognised  by  the  general  government  as  the  de  facto 
governments  in  the  states  of  Bolivar,  Panama,  Mag- 
dalena,  and  elsewhere. 


442  APPENDIXES 

1866.  Mosquera  succeeded  Murillo.  He  attempted  to  re- 
establish the  authority  of  the  central  government,  and 
for  that  purpose  intervened  in  the  local  revolutions. 

1867.  Mosquera  declared  himself  Dictator.  The  garrison  in 
Bogota  revolted,  and  he  was  overthrown.  Acosta  was 
declared  President  by  the  Bogota  troops.  He  refused 
to  interfere  in  the  local  revolutions. 

1868.  General  Gutierrez  became  President.  He  interfered  in 
the  local  state  revolutions.  In  Cundinamarca  the  gov- 
ernor assumed  a  dictatorship  locally  of  the  state,  but 
Gutierrez  deposed  him. 

1870.  General  Salgar  became  President.  The  country  under 
his  rule  went  from  bad  to  worse. 

1872.  Murillo  was  declared  President,  and  apart  from  the 
economic  crisis  which  was  chronic  in  Colombia,  even 
in  those  days,  his  administration  was  without  special 
incident. 

1874.  Santiago  Perez  was  declared  President  by  Congress. 
Grave  disorders  broke  out  in  1875  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  Panama  revolted,  and  many  other  states  defied 
the  authority  of  the  President  and  arrested  his  officers 
and  troops. 

1876.  Aquiles  Parra  was  selected  for  Chief  Executive  by  Con- 
gress in  the  latter  part  of  1875,  and  took  office  early  in 
1876.  Revolutions  broke  out  in  Cauca,  and  when  the 
President  sought  to  intervene  other  "  sovereign  states," 
such  as  Antioquia  and  Tolima,  "  declared  war."  A 
bloody  insurrection  followed.  Parra  raised  about  25,000 
men,  and  many  heavy  battles  were  fought.  The  states 
of  Santander,  Boyaca,  and  Cundinamarca  joined  the  in- 
surrection, but  General  Parra  finally  succeeded  in  re- 
storing order. 

1878.  Trujillo  was  declared  President.  Revolutions  again 
devastated  the  country.  The  governments  of  Cauca  and 
Magdalena  were  overthrown  by  the  national  troops. 


APPENDIXES  443 

1880.  Rafael  Nunez,  a  man  of  liberal  antecedents,  although  a 
member  of  the  conservative  party,  was  installed  as  Presi- 
dent. The  following  year  a  strong  revolution  was  or- 
ganised against  him  by  liberal  influences  in  Cauca  and 
Antioquia,  but  was  put  down  after  heavy  loss  of  life. 

1882.  Senor  Laldua  succeeded  Nunez  as  Chief  Executive,  but 
he  died  in    1883. 

1883.  Vice-President  General  Otalora  succeeded  as  Chief 
Executive. 

1884.  Senor  Rafael  Nuiiez  was  declared  President.  His  reac- 
tionary policies  gave  dissatisfaction  to  the  liberals,  who 
had  supported  him. 

1885.  A  widespread  and  powerful  revolution  broke  out  in  the 
provinces  of  Panama,  Boyaca,  Cundinamarca,  and  Mag- 
dalena,  under  the  leadership  of  Generals  Reyes  and 
Velez.  It  was  subdued,  and  peace  was  proclaimed  in 
September. 

1886.  On  August  6  Dictator  Nunez  proclaimed  a  new  Consti- 
tution, extending  the  President's  term  to  six  years  and 
making  a  centralised  government.  He  declared  himself 
elected  President  for  the  term  ending  August  7,   1892. 

1888.  Dictator  Nuiiez  appointed  Carlos  Holguin  to  administer 
the  government  at  Bogota.  Nunez  himself  remained  in 
Cartagena  on  account  of  his  health ;  but  Nunez  was  con- 
sulted about  everything,  and  his  orders  were  law. 
Armed  uprisings  were  frequent  in  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, but  were  suppressed  without  great  difficulty. 

1892.  Dictator  Nunez  declared  himself  President  for  the  ensu- 
ing six  years,  and  appointed  Senor  Miguel  Caro  to  ad- 
minister affairs  in  Bogota,  while  he  continued  as  before 
to  reside  in  Cartagena. 

1894.  In  September  President  Nuiiez  died.  Senor  Miguel 
Caro  assumed  the  unexpired  term.  Uprisings  were  con- 
tinuous and  severe,  but  Sefior  Caro  suppressed  them  all. 

1898.  M.  A.  Sanclemente  was  chosen  President  by  the  con- 
servatives.    A  powerful  revolution  broke  out  in  all  parts 


444  APPENDIXES 

of  the  country,  aided  by  Venezuela  in  its  latter  stages. 
This  was  a  bitter  and  bloody  insurrection,  entailing 
widespread  disaster. 
1900.  Senor  J.  M.  Marroquin,  the  Vice-President,  deposed 
and  imprisoned  the  President  by  un  golpe  de  cuartel, — 
an  uprising  of  troops,  fomented  and  directed  by  General 
Rafael  Reyes. 

1903.  Revolution  of  Panama,  and  its  recognition  as  an  inde- 
pendent republic  by  the  United  States  and  other  foreign 
countries.  The  separation  took  place  because  of  the  re- 
fusal or  failure  of  Colombia  to  approve  a  treaty  for  the 
construction  of  the  Panama  Canal. 

1904.  General   Rafael   Reyes  was  installed  as  President,   and 

soon  afterwards  declared  himself  Dictator. 

The  following  is  a  partial  list  of  the  disturbances  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  since  1850.  It  is  by  no  means  complete, 
but  it  shows  what  the  relations  between  Colombia  and  the  Sov- 
ereign State  of  Panama  had  been  for  half  a  century,  when  a 
complete  separation  was  brought  about  and  the  new  state  of 
affairs  promptly  recognised  by  the  United  States. 

December,  1858.  Attempted  secession  of  Panama. 

April,  1859.  Outbreaks  and  frequent  riots. 

i860.  Revolution  and  landing  U.  S.  force  preserves  the  city 
from  pillage. 

May,' 1 86 1.  Landing  of  American  troops  again  requested  by 
the  authorities. 

October,  1861.  Insurrection  and  civil  war. 

April,  1862.  Blockade  to  prevent  rebels  crossing  Isthmus. 

June,  1862.  Mosquera's  troops  (President  of  Colombia)  re- 
fused admittance  to  Panama. 

March,  1865.  Revolution.  Intervention  requested  and  U.  S. 
marines  and  sailors  landed. 

August,   1865.  Riots;  invasion  of  Panama. 

March,    1866.  Unsuccessful  revolution. 

April,  1867.  Attempt  to  overthrow  government. 


APPENDIXES  445 

August,   1867.  Revolution. 

July,  1868.  Revolution  and  Provisional  Government. 

August,  1868.  Revolution  and  Provisional  Government  over- 
thrown. 

April,   1871.  Revolution  followed  by  counter  revolution. 

April,    1873.  Revolution   and   civil  war  which   lasted   until 
October,  1875. 

August,  1876.  Civil  war  which  lasted  until  April,  1877. 

July,   1878.  Rebellion. 

December,   1878.  Revolt. 

April,  1879.  Revolution. 

June,   1879.  Revolution. 

March,   1883.  Riot. 

May,    1883.  Riot. 

June,   1884.  Revolutionary  attempt. 

December,   1884.  Revolutionary  attempt. 

January,  1885.  Revolutionary  disturbances. 

March,    1885.  Revolution. 

April,   1887.  Disturbance  on  Panama  Railroad. 

November,  1887.  Disturbance  on  line  of  canal. 

January,   1889.  Riot. 

January,   1895.  Revolution  which  lasted  until  April. 

March,  1895.  Incendiary  attempt. 

October,  1899.  Revolution. 

February,  1900,  to  July,   1900.  Revolution. 

January,    1901.  Revolution. 

July,  1 90 1.  Revolutionary  disturbances. 

September,  1901.  City  of  Colon  taken  by  rebels. 

March,  1902.  Revolutionary  disturbances. 

July,  1902.  Revolution. 

"  The  above  is  only  a  partial  list  of  the  revolutions,  re- 
bellions, insurrections,  riots,  and  other  outbreaks  that  have 
occurred  during  the  period  in  question;  yet  they  number  53 
for  the  57  years.  It  will  be  noted  that  one  of  them  lasted 
for  nearly  three  years  before  it  was  quelled ;  another  for  nearly 
a  year.     In  short,  the  experience  of  over  half  a  century  has 


446  APPENDIXES 

shown  Colombia  to  be  utterly  incapable  of  keeping  order  on 
the  Isthmus.  Only  the  active  interference  of  the  United  States 
has  enabled  her  to  preserve  so  much  as  a  semblance  of  sover- 
eignty. Had  it  not  been  for  the  exercise  by  the  United  States 
of  the  police  power  in  her  interest,  her  connection  with  the 
Isthmus  would  have  been  sundered  long  ago.  In  1856,  in  i860, 
in  1873,  in  1885,  in  1901,  and  again  in  1902,  sailors  and 
marines  from  United  States  warships  were  forced  to  land  in 
order  to  patrol  the  Isthmus,  to  protect  life  and  property,  and 
to  see  that  the  transit  across  the  Isthmus  was  kept  open.  In 
1 86 1,  in  1862,  in  1885,  and  in  1900  the  Colombian  Government 
requested  the  United  States  Government  to  land  troops  to  pro- 
tect its  interests  and  maintain  order  on  the  Isthmus." 

These  conclusions  are  drawn  by  Mr.  Crutchfield  in  his  work 
"  American  Supremacy."  They  seem  to  be  justified  by  the 
revolutionary  data  which  were  compiled  from  the  consular  and 
diplomatic  records  of  the  State  Department. 


APPENDIX  F 
The  Danish  West  Indies 

The  population  of  the  Danish  islands  is  steadily  decreasing. 
It  has  fallen  from  over  forty-three  thousand  in  1835  ^o  l^ss 
than  thirty-one  thousand  in  igoi.  The  islands  are  without 
any  constitutional  or  chartered  form  of  government  and  are 
ruled  directly  by  the  king,  represented  by  a  resident  governor. 

Santa  Cruz  is  the  only  island  of  the  group  that  can  be  said 
to  enjoy  any  commerce  or  cultivation.  In  1906  the  business 
done  in  the  whole  group  of  islands,  including  imports  as  well 
as  exports,  amounted  to  something  less  than  two  million  dollars. 
Sugar  and  rum  are  the  only  articles  of  export,  but  experimental 
cotton  growing  is  under  way. 

The  trade  with  Denmark,  formerly  considerable,  has  fallen 
oliE  nearly  to  the  vanishing  point  of  recent  years.  Various 
measures    for   the   development   of   the    islands   and    for   their 


APPENDIXES 


447 


representation  in  the  Danish  Parliament  are  under  considera- 
tion. 

APPENDIX  G 

The  British  Islands 

NOTE  I 

The  following  trade  returns  from  the  British  West  Indies 
for  the  years  1906-7-8  show  decided  improvement.  The  table 
of  revenue  is  also  more  satisfactory.  This  improvement  is 
most  striking  in  the  case  of  Jamaica  and  of  Dominica,  showing 
the  happy  influence  of  the  increasing  fruit  trade  with  the 
United  States  and  in  a  lesser  degree  with  the  United  Kingdom. 


Islands  and 
Colonies 


Barbados 

British  Guiana. . 

Jamaica 

Trinidad  and 
Tobago .    

Grenada 

St.  Vincent 

St.  Lucia 

Antigua 

St.  Kitts-Nevis.. 

Dominica 

Montserrat 

Virgin  Islands . . 


Year 


j  1906 
/  1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 
1906 
1907 


Revenue 


204,704 
209,818 

535.746 
548,293 
887,228 
1,022,390 
765,272 
871,201 
71,786 

79.871 
26,031 
28,465 
60,012 
67.351 
44,175 
50,620 

49,613 

50,351 

34.149 

39.865 

8.732 

10,233 

2,425 

3,971 


Expendi- 
ture 


186,016 
188,296 

514,053 

520,046 

828,115 

884,243 

810,474 

781,038 

70,379 

68.3S3 

24,650 

24,653 

60,293 

64,840 

45,207 

46,968 

46,067 

47,170 

31.055 

31.486 

6,578 

8,016 

2,032 

4.367 


Imports 


£ 
1,192,328 
1,271,530 
1,690,808 

1.765,359 
2,261,469 
2,9x4,000 
3,120,717 
3,374.824 

223,449 
288,665 
78,008 
96,554 
242,469 
310,309 

132.763 

168,396 

158,818 

180,347 

103,224 

128,650 

22,807 

32,756 

6,440 

7,009 


Exports 


L 
932,966 
935.256 
1,843,105 

1.7IT,543 
1,992,007 
2,376,000 
2,872,325 
3,907,503 
210,149 
417,299 

83,755 

94,265 

220,313 

264,401 

95.971 

174.972 

160,195 

189,903 

106,246 

124,294 

23,982 

35.183 

5.760 

6,027 


In  the  year  1909,  according  to  the  latest  available  official  re- 
turns, total  imports  to   the  British  West   Indies  were  valued 


448 


APPENDIXES 


at  £8,445,130.     Total  exports  at  £7,808,708.     In  both  figures 
bullion  and  specie  is  included. 

Total  revenue  of  West  Indies  for  the  year  1909-10  was 
£2,590,143.  Total  expenditure,  £2,671,192,  showing  a  deficit 
of  about  $400,000  in  U.  S.  currency. 

NOTE  II 

The  following  are  the  latest  estimates  regarding  population 
and  area: 


Countries 


Barbados 

British  Guiana 

Jamaica 

Trinidad 

Tobago 

Grenada 

St.  Vincent 

St.  Lucia 

Antigua 

St.  Kitts 

Nevis 

Dominica 

Anguilla 

Montserrat 

Virgin  Islands. 


POPULATION 


194,510 

304.549 
830,261 
316,141 
20,626 
70,783 
51.779 
54.599 
34.953 
30,813 
14,076 

31,943 
4,400 

12,215 
4,908 


AREA  IN 
SQUARE  MILES 


166 
lOO.OOO 

4,207 

1.754 

114K 

123 

140 

233 

108 

68 

50 

291 

35 

32>^ 
58 


NOTE  III 

In  the  following  extracts  from  his  volume  entitled  "  White 
Capital  and  Coloured  Labour,"  Sir  Sidney  Olivier,  British 
Governor  of  the  island  of  Jamaica,  sets  forth  at  length  his 
extraordinary  views  on  the  race  question,  which  have  attracted 
so  much  attention  in  the  West  Indian  world. 


"  We  are  confronted  in  the  United  States,  in  South  Africa, 
in  India,  and  elsewhere  with  a  belief  on  the  part  of  the  ma- 
jority of   the   European   section  of  the  population   that  white 


APPENDIXES  449 

and  coloured  can  blend  no  more  than  oil  and  water.  What- 
ever be  the  explanations  of  race  prejudice  and  whatever 
our  judgment  of  its  significance,  we  must  recognise  its  existence 
as  a  fact  of  solid  importance  in  regard  to  coloured  society.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  evident  that,  with  a  vigorous  native  stock, 
no  stable  mixed  community  can  grow  up  so  long  as  colour 
prejudice  and  race  antagonism  maintain  their  supremacy.  Such 
a  condition  is  only  comparable  with  the  institution  of  slavery. 

"  Whether  the  white  man  likes  it  or  not,  the  fact  must  be 
faced  that  under  the  modern  system  of  industry  which  deals 
with  the  coloured  man  as  an  independent  wage-earner  and  in 
which  he  has  the  stimulus  of  the  white  man's  ideals  of  educa- 
tion, the  coloured  man  must  advance,  and  he  visibly  does  ad- 
vance to  a  level  of  understanding  and  self-reliance  in  which 
he  will  not  accept  the  negrophobist  theory  of  exclusion. 

"  In  the  history  of  the  world,  it  has  practically  come  about 
to  a  vast  extent  by  interbreeding  and  mixture  of  races,  and 
though  the  idea  of  this  method  may  be  scouted  as  out  of  the 
range  of  practical  consideration  or  influence  in  connection  with 
the  modern  colour  problem,  and  though  I  should  admit  that  it 
may  tend  to  diminish  in  importance  as  compared  with  direct 
mental  influences,  yet  I  consider  that  the  tendency  of  opinion 
at  the  present  in  the  ascendant  is  unduly  to  undervalue  its  real 
importance,  and  I  propose  to  give  reasons  for  thinking  that 
where  it  takes  place  it  is  advantageous.  We  should  at  least 
give  full  credit  to  its  possibilities  before  passing  to  consider 
other  methods  of  fusion. 

"  The  question  of  the  relations  between  black  and  white  is 
obscured  by  a  mass  of  prejudice  and  ignorance  and  blindness 
proportional  to  the  isolating  differences  in  their  evolved  con- 
stitutions. These  barriers  are  not  different  in  kind  or  in 
strength  from  those  which  once  separated  neighbouring  Euro- 
pean tribes.  What  has  happened  as  between  these  we  can  trace 
and  recognise,  and  this  recognition  will  help  us  to  approach  the 
contemporary  problem.    .    .    . 

"  What  happens  when  two  persons  of  different  race  inter- 


450  APPENDIXES 

marry?  Each  race,  we  have  argued,  has  evolved  its  own 
speciah'sed  body,  adapted  to  a  certain  range  of  human  capacities. 
In  neither  case,  one  may  say  in  no  possible  case,  is  the  race- 
body  (including  the  brain  and  nervous  system)  anything  ap- 
proaching to  a  competent  vehicle  of  all  the  qualities  and  powers 
that  we  imply  by  humanity.  Of  course,  we  have  had  very 
splendid  and  comprehensive  human  types  among  those  races  of 
whose  activities  and  productions  records  remain,  and  doubtless 
there  have  been  others  equally  capable,  of  which  we  have  no 
record,  but  none  that  w^e  can  judge  of  (I  certainly  should  not 
accept  the  Greeks  of  the  Periclean  age)  come  near  to  satisfying 
us  as  completely  capable  of  all  the  human  apprehension  and 
activity  known  to  us.  I  do  not  wish  to  overweigh  this  idea  of 
the  limitation  of  racial  faculty  which  will  always  yield,  more  or 
less,  to  educational  influences.  The  truly  great  men  of  all 
races  are  visibly  near  akin.  Each  race,  too,  I  have  argued,  is 
likely  to  exhibit  habitually  a  good  deal  of  human  faculty  that 
is  absent  in  the  other.    .    .    . 

"  The  writer  of  these  chapters  has  for  many  years  been  con- 
nected with  and  concerned  in  the  administration  of  British 
West  Indian  colonies  in  which  the  great  bulk  of  the  popula- 
tion is  descended  from  African  slaves  and  is  still  very  largely 
a  pure  African  race.  He  has  spent  nearly  five  years  in  the 
island  of  Jamaica  and  has  a  special  and  rather  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  that  community.  In  no  field  is  there  better  material 
for  a  study  of  the  effects  of  prolonged  collocation  of  white 
and  black  in  the  relation  of  employer  and  employed,  and 
whilst  the  different  conditions  of  other  colonies  have  produced 
somewhat  different  results,  an  understanding  of  the  phenomena 
of  Jamaican  society  may  be  regarded  as  affording  a  very  good 
foundation  for  a  judgment  as  to  the  possibilities  of  racial 
interaction  in  any  such  British  community.    .    .    . 

"  In  all  the  British  West  Indies  the  coloured  population 
enormously  outnumbers  the  white.  The  social  and  industrial 
conditions  vary  considerably.  Where  the  su8;ar  industry  sur- 
vives as  the  principal  support  of  the  community,   the  land  is 


APPENDIXES  451 

still  for  the  most  part  held  in  big  estates  and  the  labouring  popu- 
lation is  employed  at  wages.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  Bar- 
bados, Antigua,  and  St.  Kitts.  It  is  the  circumstance  that  land 
has  been  so  monopolised  and  that  the  descendants  of  the  slaves 
have,  therefore,  been  compelled  to  work  on  the  estates  for  such 
wages  as  the  estates  would  give,  that  alone  maintained  the 
sugar  industry  in  these  islands,  whilst  it  failed  to  so  great 
an  extent  where  the  negro  was  not  under  like  compulsion  to 
work.  And  it  is  in  islands  and  districts  where  the  sugar  estate 
industry  has  been  thus  maintained  that  the  condition  of  the 
West  Indian  negro  is  poorest  and  most  degraded.  In  the 
more  important  colonies  of  Trinidad  and  Demerara  the  labour 
supply  for  estates  is  principally  provided  by  indentured  East 
Indian  coolies,  whilst  the  bulk  of  the  negro  population  is 
settled,  as  it  is  in  Grenada,  Dominica,  and  Montserrat,  under 
conditions  more  nearly  approaching  those  which  are  to  be  found 
most  fully  established  in  Jamaica,  that  is  to  say,  as  a  peasant 
proprietary,  not  primarily  dependent  upon  wage  employment, 
but  supplying  a  more  or  less  uncertain  amount  of  labour 
available  for  the  larger  plantations.  Setting  Barbados  apart  as 
a  unique  community,  the  future  of  which  it  would  be  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  forecast,  because  there,  owing  to  close  land 
monopoly  and  great  density  of  population,  there  is  a  thor- 
oughly European  confrontation  of  capitalist  and  proletariat 
classes,  Jamaica  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  what  the  ordinary 
British  West  Indian  colony  appears  destined  to  become. 

"  The  people  of  Jamaica  are  mostly  negroes,  with  but  little 
admixture  of  white  blood.  The  predominant  status  is  that  of 
peasant  proprietors,  although  in  some  districts  considerable 
numbers  still  live  and  work  for  wages  on  estates,  and 
own  no  land.  But  where  they  do  not  own  land  they 
almost  always  rent  land,  and  depend  largely  for  their 
maintenance  upon  its  produce.  The  number  of  this  class 
amounts  to  about  700,000.  The  extent  to  which  land  is  dis- 
tributed among  them  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  out  of  113,- 
000  holdings  of  property  on  the  Valuation  Roll  of  the  island 


452  APPENDIXES 

in  1905,  106,000  were  below  £100,  and  91,260  below  £40  in 
value.  Practically  all  these  small  holdings  are  owned  by  the 
black  peasantry  and  coloured  people,  the  acreage  varying  from 
less  than  an  acre  to  50  or  100  acres.  Next  in  number  to  the 
nearly  pure  negro  peasant  class  comes  the  considerable  coloured 
class  of  mixed  African  and  European  descent,  which  largely 
supplies  the  artisans  and  tradesmen  of  the  community.  Very 
many  of  this  class  are  landowners  and  planters,  many  are  over- 
seers and  bookkeepers  on  estates,  many  commercial  clerks,  and 
some  are  engaged  in  the  professions  of  law  and  medicine.  Many 
clergy  of  all  the  Protestant  denominations  are  black  or  coloured  ; 
so  are  all  the  elementary  schoolmasters  and  schoolmistresses  and 
some  of  the  teachers  in  the  few  second-grade  schools.  There  are 
not  more  than  15,000  persons  in  the  island  (including  Jews) 
who  claim  to  be  of  unmixed  white  race.  These  whites  pre- 
dominate in  the  governing  and  employing  class  and  as  mer- 
chants or  planters  direct  and  lead  the  industrial  life  of  the 
island. 

"  Now  what  are  the  social  relations  in  this  mixed  community? 
There  is  no  artificial  or  conventional  disqualification  whatever 
to  bar  any  Jamaican  of  negro  or  mixed  race  from  occupying 
any  position  for  which  he  is  intellectually  qualified  in  any 
department  of  the  social  life  of  the  island,  including  public 
service.  Many  coloured  men  are  magistrates  of  Petty  Ses- 
sions, more  than  one  holds  the  office  of  Gustos,  that  is  to  say 
chief  magistrate  of  their  parishes,  more  than  one  holds  or  has 
held  stipendiary  magistracies  under  the  government.  These 
positions  they  fill  with  credit.  According  to  their  professional 
positions  they  associate  with  the  white  residents  on  precisely  the 
same  terms  as  persons  of  pure  European  extraction.  In  prac- 
tice it  is  the  fact  that  the  pure  negro  does  not  show  the  business 
capacity  and  ambition  of  the  man  of  mixed  race,  and  there  are 
few  if  any  persons  of  pure  African  extraction  holding  positions 
of  high  consideration,  authority,  or  responsibility. 

"  I  would  not  be  understood  as  asserting  that  there  is  not 
coloured  prejudice  in  Jamaica  or  in  any  other  British  West 


APPENDIXES  453 

Indian  colony — that  is  to  say,  that  there  is  in  the  minds  of 
domiciled  Europeans  nothing  answering  to  the  hostility  and 
contempt  toward  black  and  coloured  people  which  is  boasted 
by  many  spokesmen  of  white  folk  in  the  Southern  States  of 
America  and  prevalent  now  in  South  Africa;  or  that  there  is 
not,  conversely,  a  latent  jealousy  of  and  hostility  towards  the 
'  buckra  '  in  the  temperament  of  the  black  and  coloured  which 
may  lend  itself  on  occasions  to  the  inflammatory  excitement  of 
a  cry  of  '  colour  for  colour,  race  for  race.'  Such  prejudice, 
however,  does  not  appear  on  the  surface,  and  such  as  there  is 
is  unquestionably  diminishing.  It  is  strongest  on  both  sides 
in  the  women  and  on  the  woman's  side  of  life.    .    .    . 

"  But  though  in  Jamaica  and  in  other  West  Indian  colonies 
there  may  be  in  general  social  and  professional  relations  no 
barrier  against  intermixture,  there  is  beyond  question  an  aver- 
sion on  the  part  of  white  Creoles  to  intermarriage  with  coloured 
families,  and  this  aversion  may,  I  think,  be  relied  upon,  at 
any  rate  for  a  long  time  to  come,  to  check,  in  practice,  any 
such  obliteration  of  race  distinctions  as  is  foreboded  by  negroph- 
obists  in  the  United  States  as  the  necessary  result  of  the 
admission  of  social  equality. 

"  It  is  true  that  in  these  colonies  you  will  occasionally  find 
Creoles  of  mixed  race  in  good  positions  married  to  ladies  of 
pure  European  blood.  But,  as  a  rule,  such  marriages  will  not 
have  been  made  in  the  colony,  but  in  England,  where  there  is 
less  sensibility  on  such  matters.  Again,  you  will  find  men  of 
pure  European  extraction  and  good  position  with  Creole  wives 
of  mixed  race,  though  perhaps  not  without  special  information 
to  be  identified  as  such,  nor  disposed  to  be  so  identified.  More- 
over, in  the  lower  social  ranks  of  employees  in  stores,  so  far 
as  these  are  recruited  from  Europe,  such  mixed  marriages  may 
frequently  be  met  with. 

"  On  the  whole,  however,  it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  ad- 
mission to  social  and  professional  equality,  when  resulting  from 
compatibility  of  temperament  and  interests,  does,  in  fact,  con- 
duce  necessarily   or   strongly    to   likelihood   of   intermarriage: 


454  APPENDIXES 

at  any  rate  of   frequent  and  habitual  and  unhesitating  inter- 
marriage. 

"  I  mjself  began  my  connection  with  the  West  Indies  under 
the  prejudices  of  the  theory  of  the  degeneracy  of  the  offspring 
of  interbreeding,  which  was  commoner,  perhaps,  at  that  time, 
in  the  writings  of  anthropologists  than  it  is  now;  but  I  have 
found  myself  unable  to  establish  any  judgment  on  the  facts  in 
support  of  any  such  sweeping  generalisation.  The  effects  of 
a  first  cross  are  no  doubt  constitutionally  disturbing  and  many 
persons  of  mixed  origin  are  of  poor  physique.  But  the  phthisis 
and  other  diseases  from  which  they  suffer  are  equally  common 
among  the  West  Indian  negro  population  of  apparently  pure 
African  blood,  and  arise  among  these  from  the  overcrowding  of 
dwellings,  bad  nutrition,  insanitary  habits,  and  other  preventa- 
able  causes.  There  may  naturally  be  aversion  on  the  part  of 
and  a  strong  social  objection  on  behalf  of  the  white  woman 
against  her  marriage  with  a  black  or  coloured  man.  There  is 
no  corresponding  strong  instinctive  aversion,  nor  is  there  so 
strong  an  ostensible  social  objection,  to  a  white  man's  marrying 
a  woman  of  mixed  descent:  the  latter  kind  of  union  is  much 
more  likely  to  occur  than  the  former.  There  is  good  biological 
reason  for  this  distinction.  Whatever  the  potentialities  of  the 
African  stocks  as  a  vehicle  for  human  manifestation,  and  I 
myself  believe  them  to  be,  like  those  of  the  Russian  people, 
exceedingly  important  and  valuable — a  matrix  of  emotional 
and  spiritual  energy  that  have  yet  to  find  their  human  expression 
in  suitably  adapted  forms — the  white  races  are  now  in  fact 
by  far  the  further  advanced  in  effectual  human  development, 
and  it  would  be  expedient  on  this  account  alone  that  their 
maternity  should  be  economised  to  the  utmost.  A  woman  may 
be  the  mother  of  a  limited  number  of  children,  and  our  notion 
of  the  number  advisable  is  contracting:  it  is  bad  natural  econ- 
omy, and  instinct  very  potently  opposes  it,  to  breed  backwards 
from  her.  There  is  no  such  reason  against  the  begetting  of 
children  by  white  men  in  countries  where,  if  they  are  to  breed 
at  all,  it  must  be  with  women  of  coloured  or  mixed  race.    The 


APPENDIXES  455 

offspring  of  such  breeding,  whether  legitimate  or  illegitimate,  is, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  efficiency,  an  acquisition  to  the  com- 
munity, and,  under  favourable  conditions,  an  advance  on  the 
pure-bred  African.  For  notwithstanding  all  that  it  may  be 
possible  to  adduce  in  justification  of  that  prejudice  against  the 
mixed  race,  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  which  I  have  myself 
fully  shared,  I  am  convinced  that  this  class  as  it  at  present  exists 
is  a  valuable  and  indispensable  part  of  any  West  Indian  com- 
munity, and  that  a  colony  of  black,  coloured,  and  whites  has 
far  more  organic  efficiency  and  far  more  promise  in  it  than  a 
colony  of  black  and  white  alone.  A  community  of  white  and 
black  alone  is  in  far  greater  danger  of  remaining,  so  far  as 
the  unofficial  classes  are  concerned,  a  community  of  employers 
and  serfs,  concessionaires  and  tributaries,  with,  at  best,  a 
bureaucracy  to  keep  the  peace  between  them.  The  graded 
mixed  class  in  Jamaica  helps  to  make  an  organic  whole  of  the 
community  and  saves  it  from  this  distinct  cleavage. 

"  A  very  significant  light  is  thrown  on  the  psychology  of 
colour  prejudice  in  mixed  communities  by  the  fact  that,  in  the 
whites,  it  is  stronger  against  the  coloured  than  against  the  black. 
I  believe  this  is  chiefly  because  the  coloured  intermediate  class  do 
form  such  a  bridge  as  I  have  described,  and  undermine,  or 
threaten  to  undermine,  the  economic  and  social  ascendency  of 
the  white,  hitherto  the  dominant  aristocracy  of  these  communi- 
ties. This  jealousy  or  indignation  is  much  more  pungent  than 
the  alleged  natural  instinct  of  racial  aversion. 

"  The  status  of  such  blended  communities  among  human  so- 
cieties may  not  be  high,  but  the  white  man  has,  in  fact,  created 
them,  and  continues  to  do  so,  and  whatever  undesirable  char- 
acteristics, moral  or  physical,  may  be  accentuated  by  inter- 
breeding, it  is  certain  that,  from  the  point  of  view  of  social 
vitality  and  efficiency,  it  is  not  the  mixed  coloured  class,  if  any, 
that  is  decadent  in  Jamaica.  Where,  therefore,  we  have  created 
and  are  developing  a  community  of  diverse  races,  I  cannot,  in  the 
light  of  British  West  Indian  conditions,  admit  that  inter- 
breeding is  necessarily  an  evil.     I  think,  rather,  that  where  we 


456  APPENDIXES 

have  such  a  community  we  had  better  make  up  our  mind  not 
only  not  to  despise  the  offspring  of  the  illicit  interbreeding  that 
invariably  takes  place  in  such  conditions,  but  to  make  our  ac- 
count of  a  certain  amount  of  legitimate  and  honourable  inter- 
breeding and  to  look  upon  it  not  as  an  evil  but  as  an  advantage. 
We  need  not  be  much  afraid  that  those  persons,  the  race  purity 
of  whose  offspring  it  is  essential  for  the  world  to  maintain,  are 
going  to  plunge  into  a  cataract  of  mixed  matrimony.  Such  a 
development  is  not  at  all  probable." 


APPENDIX  H 

The  Dutch  Islands 

The  Dutch  Antilles  are  of  little  importance  viewed  com- 
mercially. The  largest  of  the  islands,  Curasao,  has  only  an 
area  of  550  square  kilometres  and  is  almost  without  agricul- 
ture; foreign  trade  would  be  almost  non-existent  were  it  not 
for  the  transit  facilities  with  the  nearby  Venezuelan  ports. 
The  population  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Dutch  islands  is  esti- 
mated at  sixty  thousand.  It  is  not  an  underestimate.  The 
islanders  figure  in  the  tables  of  foreign  commerce  with  their 
exports  of  so-called  Panama  hats  and  with  frequent  invoices  of 
orange  peels  which  in  Holland  are  manufactured  into  the  much- 
prized  Curagao  liqueur.  The  total  business  of  the  islands 
amounts  to  about  one  million  six  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  it  is  not  on  the  increase.  The  revenue  obtained  is  a  little 
under  one  million,  and  there  is  a  small  annual  deficit  in  the 
budget.  The  administration  of  the  islands  is  beyond  all  praise, 
as  is  indeed  the  case  with  all  the  Dutch  colonial  possessions. 
Expenditures  for  the  year  1910  amounted  to  6,738,174  guilders 
and  local  revenue  to  5,815,588.  The  deficit  of  922,586  guild- 
ers was  covered,  as  usual,  by  a  subvention  from  the  home 
government. 


APPENDIXES 


457 


APPENDIX  I 

The  French  Islands 

NOTE  I 
More  eloquently  than  by  words  the  decadence  of  the  French 
Antilles  is  told  in  the  following  commercial  statistics  taken  from 
the  official  publications  of  the  French  Colonial  Office: 

COMMERCE  OF  MARTINIQUE 


YEAR 

IMPORTS 

EXPORTS 

TOTAL 

1882 

Francs 

28,376,660 
23,461,440 
33,110,028 
21,487,077 
23.528,390 
24,898,836 

24.764,977 
26,423,431 
19,111,972 
20,389,568 
14,987,791 
14,759,172 
14,907,882 
15,940,039 

Fraiics 

38,992,741 
20,859,130 
18,384,916 
18,933,127 
21,796,431 
25,754,938 
26,978,824 

23.323.737 
16,251,658 
15,104,073 
12,645,521 
18,069,422 
18,812,130 
18,997,221 

Francs 

67,366,401 
44,320,580 
51,494,944 
40,420,204 
45,324,821 
50,653,774 
51,743,801 
49,747,168 
35.363,630 
35,493.641 
27,633,312 

32,728,594 
33,720,012 
34,937,260 

1887 

1802 

1897 

1898 

i8q9 

IQOO 

I90I 

IQ02 

igo'; 

TQOil 

1905 

IQ06 

IQ07 

The  situation  in  Guadeloupe  is  still  more  disastrous.  Com- 
petent observers  seem  to  agree  that  there  are  not  half  a  dozen 
plantations  on  the  island  which  are  not  mortgaged  far  beyond 
their  present  market  value.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is 
quite  natural  that  the  Colonial  Land  Bank, — Credit  Foncier 
Colonial, — should  decline  to  make  any  further  large  advances. 

There  is  one  hopeful  symptom  of  the  otherwise  dark  situa- 
tion in  Guadeloupe  which  in  the  coming  years  presents  a  chance 
however  slight,  but  still  a  chance,  of  salvation.  Without  the 
financial  resources  which  they  once  had,  and  which  are  still 
unpaid,  to  a  limited  extent  at  least  by  the  planters  of  Mar- 
tinique, the  landowners  of  Guadeloupe  are  eliminating  their 
sugar  cane  and  are  planting  cacao  and  coffee. 


458 


APPENDIXES 
COMMERCE  OF  GUADELOUPE 


YEAR 

IMPORTS 

EXPORTS 

TOTAL 

1882 

Francs 

26,667,201 
19,587,284 
21,066,283 
18,017,274 
18,492,517 
28,446,080 
20,282,563 
19,666,816 
16,408,801 
16,359,061 
13,260,380 
13,438,419 
12,867,069 
13,626,855 

Francs 

41,811,642 
22,159,653 
21,829,566 
15,145,356 
17,056,704 
17,949,093 
14,813,072 
16,899,701 
16,658,297 
17,812,489 
12,933,271 
15,637,471 
15,434.609 
16,269,156 

Francs 
68.478,843 

1887 

41,746.937 
42,895,849 
33,162,630 
35,549,281 

1892 

iSq7 

i8q8 

iSqq 

36,398,173 
35,095,635 

1 900 

igOI 

36,566,517 
33,067,098 
34,171,550 

1001 

IQOd 

26,193,651 

IQ05 

29,076,890 

1906 

28,301.678 

IQ07 

29,856,001 

NOTE  II 
The  impoverished  condition  of  the  treasury  and  the  increas- 
ing need  of  financial  assistance,  which  neither  the  French  Gov- 
ernment nor  the  Parisian  banks  are  inclined  to  provide  upon 
acceptable  terms,  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  following  fiscal 
reports: 

MARTINIQUE 


YEAR 

RECEIPTS 

EXPENSES 

SUBSIDY  FROM 
FRANCE 

tRqq 

Francs 

7,821,859 
6,594,000 
6,898,518 
5.404.487 
5.637.044 
5.154.615 
4,804,016 
4,562,400 
4,749.970 
4,616,600* 

Francs 

6,994,256 
6,596,516 
6,883,102 
5.373.457 
5.453.742 
5,095.713 
4,575,306 
4,562,400 
4,749.970 
4,616,600 

Francs 

I  goo 

igOI 

618,000 

1902 

500,000 
499,000 
470,000 
420,000 

IQOT 

1904 

IQOS 

IQO6 

390,000 
285,000 

IQ07 

IQO8 

140,000 

*  These  figures  for  1908  represent  the  Colonial  Office  estimate  and 
not  the  actual  accounts,  but  they  are  not  likely  to  be  far  out. 


APPENDIXES 


459 


The  still  greater  frequency  of  deficits  in  the  insular  budget 
is  shown  by  the  following  tables  relating  to  the  Budget  of 
Guadeloupe : 


YEAR 

RECEIPTS 

EXPENSES 

SUBSIDY  FROM 
FRANCE 

i8qq 

Francs 

6,668,510 
5.958,211 
7,568,378 
5,290,928 
7,290,928 
6,050,560 
4,862,211 
5,048,028 
4,755,962 
4,692,322 

Francs 

6,676,500 
4,960,789 
7,661,875 
5.759.709 
5,064,415 
5,976,280 
4.812,137 
5,048,028 
4,755.962 
4,692,322 

Francs 

1900 

igOI 

840,000 

Ig02 

800,000 

JQOI 

700,000 

I Q04 

650,000 

iQO'; 

625,000 

1906 

590,000 

1Q07 

500,000 

iqo8 

400,000 

NOTE  III 

The  following  communication  furnished  to  the  Press  of 
Paris,  on  March  9,  19 10,  by  the  French  Government  completes 
the  tableau  of  the  intolerable  conditions  prevailing  in  the  French 
West  Indies: 


"  The  Parliamentary  Commission  which  is  investigating 
political  and  administrative  conditions  in  the  West  Indian  island 
of  Guadeloupe,  in  connection  with  the  charges  of  corrupt 
practices  brought  against  M.  Legitimus,  the  negro  deputy  from 
Guadeloupe,  whose  first  appearance  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies 
a  few  weeks  ago  created  a  sensation,  has  elicited  a  number  of 
remarkable  facts.  V.  M.  L.  Ballot,  the  Governor  of  the 
island,  who  came  here  to  testify,  has  been  relieved  of  his  func- 
tions by  the  Colonial  Minister,  M.  Millies-La  Croix. 

"  When  he  appeared  before  the  commission  M.  Ballot  ex- 
plained that  he  was  not  yet  able  to  give  full  information,  but  he 
admitted  that  the  situation  was  most  deplorable,  especially  with 
regard  to  the  court.  He  said  the  magistrates,  enfeebled  by  the 
climate,  abandoned  themselves  to  reprehensible  practices,  such 


460 


APPENDIXES 


as  '  intoxicating  themselves  with  ether  and  morphine.'  M. 
Ballot  promised  to  take  energetic  steps  to  bring  about  an  im- 
provement in  the  situation." 


APPENDIX  J 

Republic  of  Panama 

NOTE  I 

IMPORTS 

The  imports  to  Panama  by  principal  countries  for    1908-9- 
10  were  as  follows: 


Countries 

1908 

1909 

1910 

United  States 

United  Kingdom... 
Germany 

$4,459,777.80 

1,553,552.55 
793,583.16 
385,86843 
128,951.69 
154,002  08 
172,881.94 
80,639  52 
77,554-69 

$4,996,626.63 
1,762,411,33 
914,756.41 
297,352.22 
180,245.52 
210,426.37 
152,345.38 
133,823.84 
108,319.94 

$5-652,653.46 

2,166,988.65 

966,151.34 

France     

307,981.93 

China  and  Japan. . . 

Italy 

Spanish  America... 
Spain 

229,938.49 
198,466.49 
187,341.84 
149,021.84 

Belgium 

101,435.62 

Switzerland 

79,939.34 

13,947.30 

Austria-Hungary. . . 

3,127.20 

Total 

$7,806,811.86 

$8,756,307.64 

$10,056,993.50 

There  were  increases  in  the  imports  from  all  the  leading 
countries  above  except  from  Italy  and  Belgium.  The  increase 
in  imports  from  the  United  States  was  $656,026.83,  or  1 3. 1 
per  cent.;  United  Kingdom,  $404,577.32,  or  22.9  per  cent.; 
Germany,  $51,394.93,  or  5.6  per  cent.;  France,  $10,629.71,  or 
3.5  per  cent.;  China  and  Japan,  $49,692.97,  or  27.6  per  cent.; 
Spanish  America,  $34,996.46,  or  22.9  per  cent. ;  and  Spain, 
$15,198,  or  II. 3  per  cent.  The  decrease  in  imports  from  Italy 
amounted  to  $11,959.88,  or  5.7  per  cent.,  and  from  Belgium, 
$6,884.32,  or  6.3  per  cent. 


APPENDIXES  461 

NOTE  II 

The  following  is  the  complete  text  of  the  much  discussed 
treaty  with  the  Republic  of  Panama  under  the  provisions  of 
which  the  United  States  is  building  the  Canal. 

TREATY    WITH    THE    REPUBLIC    OF    PANAMA 

The  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of 
Panama,  under  which  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Canal 
has  been  made  possible,  was  signed  at  Washington  on  Novem- 
ber 18,  1903,  was  ratified  by  the  Republic  of  Panama  on  Decem- 
ber 2,  1903,  and  by  the  United  States  Senate  on  February  23, 
1904,  and  reads  as  follows: 

"  The  United  States  of  America  and  the  Republic  of  Panama 
being  desirous  to  insure  the  construction  of  a  ship  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  connect  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
oceans,  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America  hav- 
ing passed  an  act  approved  June  28,  1902,  in  furtherance  of  that 
object,  by  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  author- 
ised to  acquire  within  a  reasonable  time  the  control  of  the  neces- 
sary territory  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  and  the  sovereignty 
of  such  territory  being  actually  vested  in  the  Republic  of 
Panama,  the  high  contracting  parties  have  resolved  for  that  pur- 
pose to  conclude  a  convention  and  have  accordingly  appointed 
as  their  plenipotentiaries, — 

The  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,  John  Hay, 
Secretary  of  State,  and 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  Philippe 
Bunau-Varilla,  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary 
of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  thereunto  specially  empowered  by 
said  Government,  who  after  communicating  with  each  other 
their  respective  full  powers,  found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form, 
have  agreed  upon  and  concluded  the  following  articles: 


462  APPENDIXES 

Article  I 

The  United  States  guarantees  and  will  maintain  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 

Article  II 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  in  per- 
petuity the  use,  occupation,  and  control  of  a  zone  of  land  and 
land  under  water  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation, 
sanitation,  and  protection  of  said  canal  of  the  width  of  ten 
miles  extending  to  the  distance  of  five  miles  on  each  side  of  the 
centre  line  of  the  route  of  the  canal  to  be  constructed ;  the  said 
Zone  beginning  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  three  marine  miles  from 
mean  low-water  mark  and  extending  to  and  across  the  Isthmus 
of  Panama  into  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  a  distance  of  three  marine 
miles  from  mean  low-water  mark,  with  the  proviso  that  the 
cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  and  the  harbours  adjacent  to  said 
cities,  which  are  included  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Zone 
above  described,  shall  not  be  included  within  this  grant.  The 
Republic  of  Panama  further  grants  to  the  United  States  in 
perpetuity  the  use,  occupation,  and  control  of  any  other  lands 
and  waters  outside  of  the  Zone  above  described  which  may  be 
necessary  and  convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance, 
operation,  sanitation,  and  protection  of  the  said  canal  or  of  any 
auxiliary  canals  or  other  works  necessary  and  convenient  for  the 
construction,  maintenance,  operation,  sanitation,  and  protection 
of  the  said  enterprise. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  further  grants  in  like  manner  to  the 
United  States  in  perpetuity  all  islands  within  the  limits  of  the 
Zone  above  described  and  in  addition  thereto  the  group  of  small 
islands  in  the  Bay  of  Panama,  named  Perico,  Naos,  Culebra, 
and  Flamenco. 

Article  III 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  all  the 
rights,  power,  and  authority  within  the  Zone  mentioned  and 


APPENDIXES  463 

described  in  Article  II  of  this  agreement  and  within  the  limits 
of  all  auxiliary  lands  and  waters  mentioned  and  described  in 
said  Article  II  which  the  United  States  would  possess  and  exer- 
cise if  it  were  the  sovereign  of  the  territory  within  which  said 
lands  and  waters  are  located,  to  the  entire  exclusion  of  the 
exercise  by  the  Republic  of  Panama  of  any  such  sovereign 
rights,  power,  or  authority. 

Article  IV 

As  rights  subsidiary  to  the  above  grants  the  Republic  of 
Panama  grants  in  perpetuity  to  the  United  States  the  right  to 
use  the  rivers,  streams,  lakes,  and  other  bodies  of  water  within 
its  limits  for  navigation,  the  supply  of  water  or  water  power  or 
other  purposes,  so  far  as  the  use  of  said  rivers,  streams,  lakes, 
and  bodies  of  water  and  the  waters  thereof  may  be  necessary  and 
convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation,  sanita- 
tion, and  protection  of  the  said  canal. 

Article  V 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  in  per- 
petuity a  monopoly  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  and  opera- 
tion of  any  system  of  communication  by  means  of  canal  or  rail- 
road across  its  territory  between  the  Caribbean  Sea  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

Article  VI 

The  grants  herein  contained  shall  in  no  manner  invalidate 
the  titles  or  rights  of  private  landholders  or  owners  of  private 
property  in  the  said  Zone  or  in  or  to  any  of  the  lands  or  waters 
granted  to  the  United  States  by  the  provisions  of  any  article 
of  this  treaty,  nor  shall  they  interfere  with  the  rights  of  way 
over  the  public  roads  passing  through  the  said  Zone  or  over 
any  of  the  said  lands  or  waters,  unless  said  rights  of  way  or 
private  rights  shall  conflict  with  rights  herein  granted  to  the 
United  States,  in  which  case  the  rights  of  the  United  States 


464  APPENDIXES 

shall  be  superior.  All  damages  caused  to  the  owners  of  private 
lands  or  private  property  of  any  kind  by  reason  of  the  grants 
contained  in  this  treaty  or  by  reason  of  the  operations  of  the 
United  States,  as  agents  or  employees,  or  by  reason  of  the  con- 
struction, maintenance,  operation,  sanitation,  and  protection  of 
the  said  canal  or  of  the  works  of  sanitation  and  protection  herein 
provided  for,  shall  be  appraised  and  settled  by  a  joint  commis- 
sion appointed  by  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  the 
Republic  of  Panama,  whose  decisions  as  to  such  damages  shall 
be  final  and  whose  awards  as  to  such  damages  shall  be  paid 
solely  by  the  United  States.  No  part  of  the  work  on  said  canal 
or  the  Panama  Railroad  or  on  any  auxiliary  works  relating 
thereto  and  authorised  by  the  terms  of  this  treaty  shall  be  pre- 
vented, delayed,  or  impeded  by  or  pending  such  proceedings  to 
ascertain  such  damages.  The  appraisal  of  said  private  lands 
and  private  property  and  the  assessment  of  damages  to  them 
shall  be  based  upon  their  value  before  the  date  of  this  con- 
vention. 

Article  VII 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  within 
the  limits  of  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  and  their  adjacent 
harbours  and  within  the  territory  adjacent  thereto  the  right  to 
acquire  by  purchase  or  by  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  eminent 
domain,  any  lands,  buildings,  water  rights,  or  other  properties 
necessary  and  convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance, 
operation,  and  protection  of  the  canal  and  of  any  works  of  sani- 
tation, such  as  the  collection  and  disposition  of  sewage  and 
the  distribution  of  water  in  the  said  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon, 
which,  in  the  discretion  of  the  United  States,  may  be  necessary 
and  convenient  for  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation, 
sanitation,  and  protection  of  the  said  canal  and  railroad.  All 
such  works  of  sanitation,  collection  and  disposition  of  sew- 
age and  distribution  of  water  in  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon 
shall  be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  its  agents  or  nominees  shall  be 


APPENDIXES  465 

authorised  to  impose  and  collect  water  rates  and  sewerage  rates 
which  shall  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  inter- 
est and  the  amortisation  of  the  principal  of  the  cost  of  said  works 
within  a  period  of  fifty  years  and  upon  the  expiration  of  said 
term  of  fifty  years  the  system  of  sewers  and  water  works  shall 
revert  to  and  become  the  properties  of  the  cities  of  Panama  and 
Colon  respectively,  and  the  use  of  the  water  shall  be  free  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Panama  and  Colon,  except  to  the  extent  that 
water  rates  may  be  necessary  for  the  operation  and  maintenance 
of  said  system  of  sewers  and  water. 

The  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  the  cities  of  Panama  and 
Colon  shall  comply  in  perpetuity  with  the  sanitary  ordinances 
whether  of  a  preventive  or  curative  character,  prescribed  by  the 
United  States,  and  in  case  the  Government  of  Panama  is  unable 
or  fails  in  its  duty  to  enforce  this  compliance  by  the  cities  of 
Panama  and  Colon  with  the  sanitary  ordinances  of  the  United 
States  the  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  the 
right  and  authority  to  enforce  the  same. 

The  same  right  and  authority  are  granted  to  the  United 
States  for  the  maintenance  of  public  order  in  the  cities  of 
Panama  and  Colon  and  the  territories  and  harbours  adjacent 
thereto  in  case  the  Republic  of  Panama  should  not  be,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  United  States,  able  to  maintain  such  order. 

Article  VIII 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  all 
rights  which  it  now  has  or  hereafter  may  acquire  to  the  prop- 
erty of  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  and  the  Panama 
Railroad  Company  as  a  result  of  the  transfer  of  sovereignty 
from  the  Republic  of  Colombia  to  the  Republic  of  Panama 
over  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  authorises  the  New  Panama 
Canal  Company  to  sell  and  transfer  to  the  United  States  its 
rights,  privileges,  properties  and  concessions  as  well  as  the 
Panama  Railroad  and  all  the  shares  or  part  of  the  shares  of  that 
company ;  but  the  public  lands  situated  outside  of  the  Zone  de- 


466  APPENDIXES 

scribed  in  Article  II  of  this  treaty,  now  included  in  the  conces- 
sions to  both  said  enterprises  and  not  required  in  the  con- 
struction or  operation  of  the  canal,  shall  revert  to  the  Republic 
of  Panama  except  any  property  now  owned  by  or  in  the  pos- 
session of  said  companies  within  Panama  or  Colon  or  the  ports 
or  terminals  thereof. 


Article  IX 

The  United  States  agrees  that  the  ports  at  either  entrance  of 
the  canal  and  the  waters  thereof,  and  the  Republic  of  Panama 
agrees  that  the  towns  of  Panama  and  Colon  shall  be  free  for 
all  time  so  that  there  shall  not  be  imposed  or  collected  custom- 
house tolls,  tonnage,  anchorage,  light-house,  wharf,  pilot,  or 
quarantine  dues  or  any  other  charges  or  taxes  of  any  kind  upon 
any  vessel  using  or  passing  through  the  canal  or  belonging  to  or 
employed  by  the  United  States,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  con- 
nection with  the  construction,  maintenance,  operation,  sanita- 
tion, and  protection  of  the  main  canal,  or  auxiliary  works,  or 
upon  the  cargo,  officers,  crew,  or  passengers  of  any  such  vessels, 
except  such  tolls  and  charges  as  may  be  imposed  by  the  United 
States  for  the  use  of  the  canal  and  other  works,  and  except  tolls 
and  charges  imposed  by  the  Republic  of  Panama  upon  merchan- 
dise destined  to  be  introduced  for  the  consumption  of  the  rest  of 
the  Republic  of  Panama,  and  upon  vessels  touching  at  the 
ports  of  Colon  and  Panama  and  which  do  not  cross  the 
canal. 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  have  the 
right  to  establish  such  ports  and  in  the  towns  of  Panama  and 
Colon  such  houses  and  guards  as  it  may  deem  necessary  to  col- 
lect duties  on  importations  destined  to  other  portions  of  Panama 
and  to  prevent  contraband  trade.  The  United  States  shall 
have  the  right  to  make  use  of  the  towns  and  harbours  of  Panama 
and  Colon  as  places  of  anchorage  and  for  making  repairs,  for 
loading,  unloading,  depositing,  or  transshipping  cargoes,  either 


APPENDIXES  467 

in  transit  or  destined  for  the  service  of  the  canal  and  for  other 
works  pertaining  to  the  canal. 

Article  X 

The  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  there  shall  not  be  im- 
posed any  taxes,  national,  municipal,  departmental,  or  of  any 
other  class,  upon  the  canal,  the  railways  and  auxiliary  works, 
tugs  and  other  vessels  employed  in  the  service  of  the  canal, 
storehouses,  workshops,  offices,  quarters  for  labourers,  factories 
of  all  kinds,  warehouses,  wharves,  machinery  and  other  works, 
property,  and  effects  appertaining  to  the  canal  or  railroad  and 
auxiliary  works,  or  their  officers  or  employees,  situated  within 
the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon,  and  that  there  shall  not  be 
imposed  contributions  or  charges  of  a  personal  character  of 
any  kind  upon  officers,  employees,  labourers,  and  other  indi- 
viduals in  the  service  of  the  canal  and  railroad  and  auxiliary 
works. 

Article  XI 

The  United  States  agrees  that  the  official  despatches  of  the 
Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  be  transmitted 
over  any  telegraph  and  telephone  lines  established  for  canal  pur- 
poses and  used  for  public  and  private  business  at  rates  not 
higher  than  those  required  from  officials  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States. 

Article  XII 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  permit 
the  immigration  and  free  access  to  the  lands  and  workshops  of 
the  canal  and  its  auxiliary  works  of  all  employees  and  workmen 
of  whatever  nationality  under  contract  to  work  upon  or  seeking 
employment  upon  or  in  any  wise  connected  with  the  said  canal 
and  its  auxiliary  works,  with  their  respective  families,  and  all 
such  persons  shall  be  free  and  exempt  from  the  military  service 
of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 


468  APPENDIXES 

Article  XIII 

The  United  States  may  import  at  any  time  into  the  said 
Zone  and  auxiliary  lands  free  of  custom  duties,  imposts,  taxes, 
or  other  charges,  and  without  any  restrictions,  any  and  all  ves- 
sels, dredges,  engines,  cars,  machinery,  tools,  explosives,  ma- 
terials, supplies,  and  other  articles  necessary  and  convenient  in 
the  construction,  maintenance,  operation,  sanitation,  and  pro- 
tection of  the  canal  and  auxiliary  works,  and  all  provisions, 
medicines,  clothing,  supplies,  and  other  things  necessary  and  con- 
venient for  the  officers,  employees,  workmen,  and  labourers  in 
the  service  and  employ  of  the  United  States  and  for  their 
families.  If  any  such  articles  are  disposed  of  for  use  outside  of 
the  Zone  and  auxiliary  lands  granted  to  the  United  States  and 
within  the  territory  of  the  Republic,  they  shall  be  subject  to  the 
same  import  or  other  duties  as  like  articles  imported  under  the 
laws  of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 

Article  XIV 

As  the  price  of  compensation  for  the  rights,  powers,  and 
privileges  granted  in  this  convention  by  the  Republic  of  Panama 
to  the  United  States,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
agrees  to  pay  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  the  sum  of  ten  million 
dollars  ($iO,000,ooo)  in  gold  coin  of  the  United  States  on 
the  exchange  of  the  ratification  of  this  convention  and  also  an 
annual  payment  during  the  life  of  this  convention  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  ($250,000)  in  like  gold 
coin,  beginning  nine  years  after  the  date  aforesaid. 

The  provisions  of  this  article  shall  be  in  addition  to  all  other 
benefits  assured  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  under  this  con- 
vention. 

But  no  delay  or  difference  of  opinion  under  this  article  or 
any  other  provisions  of  this  treaty  shall  affect  or  interrupt  the 
full  operation  and  effect  of  this  convention  in  any  other  respects. 


APPENDIXES  469 

Article  XV 

The  joint  commission  referred  to  in  Article  VI  shall  be  estab- 
lished as  follows: 

The  President  of  the  United  States  shall  nominate  two  per- 
sons and  the  President  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  nominate 
two  persons  and  they  shall  proceed  to  a  decision ;  but  in  case  of 
disagreement  of  the  commission  (by  reason  of  their  being  equally 
divided  in  conclusion)  an  umpire  shall  be  appointed  by  the  two 
Governments  who  shall  render  the  decision.  In  the  event  of  the 
death,  absence,  or  incapacity  of  a  commissioner  or  umpire,  or  of 
his  omitting,  declining,  or  ceasing  to  act,  his  place  shall  be 
filled  by  the  appointment  of  another  person  in  the  manner  above 
indicated.  All  decisions  by  a  majority  of  the  commission  or  by 
the  umpire  shall  be  final. 

Article  XVI 

The  two  Governments  shall  make  adequate  provision  by 
future  agreement  for  the  pursuit,  capture,  imprisonment,  deten- 
tion, and  delivery  within  said  Zone  and  auxiliary  lands  to  the 
authorities  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  of  persons  charged  with 
the  commitment  of  crimes,  felonies,  or  misdemeanours  without 
said  Zone  and  for  the  pursuit,  capture,  imprisonment,  detention, 
and  delivery  without  said  Zone  to  the  authorities  of  the  United 
States  of  persons  charged  with  the  commitment  of  crimes, 
felonies,  and  misdemeanours  within  said  Zone  and  auxiliary 
lands. 

Article  XVII 

The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United  States  the  use 
of  all  the  ports  of  the  Republic  open  to  commerce  as  places  of 
refuge  for  any  vessels  employed  in  the  canal  enterprise,  and 
for  all  vessels  passing  or  bound  to  pass  through  the  canal  which 
may  be  in  distress  and  be  driven  to  seek  refuge  in  said  ports. 
Such  vessels  shall  be  exempt  from  anchorage  and  tonnage  dues 
on  the  part  of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 


470  APPENDIXES 

Article  XVIII 

The  canal,  when  constructed,  and  the  entrances  thereto  shall 
be  neutral  in  perpetuity,  and  shall  be  opened  upon  the  terms 
provided  for  by  section  i  of  article  three  of,  and  in  conformity 
with  all  the  stipulations  of,  the  treaty  entered  into  by  the  Gov- 
ernments of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  on  November 
i8,   1901. 

Article  XIX 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  have  the 
right  to  transport  over  the  canal  its  vessels  and  its  troops  and 
munitions  of  war  in  such  vessels  at  all  times  without  paying 
charges  of  any  kind.  The  exemption  is  to  be  extended  to  the 
auxiliary  railway  for  the  transportation  of  persons  in  the  service 
of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  or  of  the  police  force  charged  with 
the  preservation  of  public  order  outside  of  said  Zone,  as  well  as 
to  their  baggage,  munitions  of  war,  and  supplies. 

Article  XX 

If  by  virtue  of  any  existing  treaty  in  relation  to  the  territory 
of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  whereof  the  obligations  shall  de- 
scend or  be  assumed  by  the  Republic  of  Panama,  there  may  be 
any  privilege  or  concession  in  favour  of  the  Government  or  the 
citizens  or  subjects  of  a  third  power  relative  to  an  interoceanic 
means  of  communication  which  in  any  of  its  terms  may  be  in- 
compatible with  the  terms  of  the  present  convention,  the  Re- 
public of  Panama  agrees  to  cancel  or  modify  such  treaty  in  due 
form,  for  which  purpose  it  shall  give  to  the  said  third  power 
the  requisite  notification  within  the  term  of  four  months  from 
the  date  of  the  present  convention,  and  in  case  the  existing 
treaty  contains  no  clause  permitting  its  modification  or  annul- 
ment, the  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  to  procure  its  modifica- 
tion or  annulment  in  such  form  that  there  shall  not  exist  any 
conflict  with  the  stipulations  of  the  present  convention. 


APPENDIXES  471 

Article  XXI 

The  rights  and  privileges  granted  by  the  Republic  of  Panama 
to  the  United  States  in  the  preceding  articles  are  understood  to 
be  free  of  all  anterior  debts,  liens,  trusts  or  liabilities,  or  con- 
cessions or  privileges  to  other  governments,  corporations,  syndi- 
cates, or  individuals,  and,  consequently,  if  there  should  arise 
any  claims  on  account  of  the  present  concessions  and  privileges 
or  otherwise,  the  claimants  shall  resort  to  the  Government  of 
the  Republic  of  Panama  and  not  to  the  United  States  for  any 
indemnity  or  compromise  which  may  be  required. 

Article  XXII 

The  Republic  of  Panama  renounces  and  grants  to  the  United 
States  the  participation  to  which  it  might  be  entitled  in  the 
future  earnings  of  the  canal  under  Article  XV  of  the  con- 
cessionary contract  with  Lucien  N.  B.  Wyse,  now  owned  by 
the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  and  any  and  all  other  rights 
or  claims  of  a  pecuniary  nature  arising  under  or  relating  to 
said  concession,  or  arising  under  or  relating  to  the  concessions 
to  the  Panama  Railroad  Company  or  any  extension  or  modifica- 
tion thereof,  and  it  likewise  renounces,  confirms,  and  grants  to 
the  United  States,  now  and  hereafter,  all  the  rights  and  property 
reserved  in  the  said  concessions  which  otherwise  would  belong 
to  Panama  at  or  before  the  expiration  of  the  terms  of  ninety- 
nine  years  of  the  concessions  granted  to  or  held  by  the  above- 
mentioned  party  and  companies,  and  all  right,  title,  and  interest 
which  it  now  has  or  may  hereafter  have,  in  and  to  the  lands, 
canal,  works,  property,  and  rights  held  by  the  said  companies 
under  said  concessions  or  otherwise,  and  acquired  or  to  be  ac- 
quired by  the  United  Sates  from  or  through  the  New  Panama 
Canal  Company,  including  any  property  and  rights  which  might 
or  may  in  the  future  either  by  lapse  of  time,  forfeiture,  or  other- 
wise revert  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  under  any  contracts  or 
concessions,  with  said  Wyse,  the  Universal  Panama  Canal  Com- 


472  'APPENDIXES 

pany,  the  Panama  Railroad  Company,  and  the  New  Panama 
Canal  Company. 

The  aforesaid  rights  and  property  shall  be  and  are  free  and 
released  from  any  present  or  reversionary  interest  in  or  claims 
of  Panama  and  the  title  of  the  United  States  thereto  upon  con- 
summation of  the  contemplated  purchase  by  the  United  States 
from  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company,  shall  be  absolute,  so 
far  as  concerns  the  Republic  of  Panama,  excepting  always  the 
rights  of  the  Republic  specifically  secured  under  this  treaty. 

Article  XXIII 

If  it  should  become  necessary  at  any  time  to  employ  armed 
forces  for  the  safety  or  protection  of  the  canal,  or  of  the  ships 
that  make  use  of  the  same,  or  the  railways  and  auxiliary  works, 
the  United  States  shall  have  the  right,  at  all  times  and  in  its 
discretion,  to  use  its  police  and  its  land  and  naval  forces  or  to 
establish  fortifications  for  these  purposes. 

Article  XXIV 

No  change  either  in  the  government  or  in  the  laws  and 
treaties  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall,  without  the  consent 
of  the  United  States,  affect  any  right  of  the  United  States  under 
the  present  convention,  or  under  any  treaty  stipulation  between 
the  two  countries  that  now  exists  or  may  hereafter  exist  touch- 
ing the  subject-matter  of  this  convention. 

If  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  hereafter  enter  as  a  consti- 
tuent into  any  other  Government  or  into  any  union  or  con- 
federation of  states,  so  as  to  merge  her  sovereignty  or  inde- 
pendence in  such  government,  union,  or  confederation,  the  rights 
of  the  United  States  under  this  convention  shall  not  be  in  any 
respect  lessened  or  impaired. 

Article  XXV 

For  the  better  performance  of  the  engagements  of  this  con- 
vention and  to  the  end  of  the  efficient  protection  of  the  canal 


APPENDIXES  473 

and  the  preservation  of  its  neutrality,  the  Government  of  the 
Republic  of  Panama  will  sell  or  lease  to  the  United  States  land 
adequate  and  necessary  for  naval  or  coaling  stations  on  the 
Pacific  coast  and  on  the  western  Caribbean  coast  of  the  Republic 
at  certain  points  to  be  agreed  upon  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States." 

APPENDIX  K 
Canal  Legislation  and  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty 

After  much  discussion  and  delay,  the  long-debated  Panama 
bill  was  passed  by  both  houses  of  Congress,  in  the  last  days  of 
August,  19 12,  and  became  a  law,  with  the  President's  signa- 
ture. The  act  deals  with  three  subjects:  the  conditions  under 
which  the  canal  may  be  used  by  vessels  of  commerce  and  war; 
the  provisions  according  to  which  the  territory  of  the  canal 
will  be  defended  against  enemies,  protected  from  disease,  and 
civilly  governed ;  and  the  administrative  authority  under  which 
these  three  subjects  will  be  dealt  with. 

The  bill,  as  passed,  places  the  responsibility  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  canal  and  of  the  Canal  Zone  upon  the  Presi- 
dent, and  also  provides  that  the  chief  resident  authority  shall 
rest,  not  with  a  commission  as  at  present,  but  upon  a  single 
administrative  officer,  a  civilian  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
an  officer  of  the  army  in  time  of  war.  The  most  important 
provisions  of  the  bill,  or  those  which  have  been  most  widely 
discussed,  deal  with  the  question  of  tolls.  The  bill,  as  it  passed 
the  Senate,  in  the  first  instance,  provided  that  free  passage  of 
the  canal  should  be  accorded,  not  only  to  all  vessels  engaged 
in  American  coastwise  trade,  but  also  to  all  American  vessels 
engaged  in  foreign  trade  "  if  the  owners  agree  that  such  vessels 
may  be  taken  in  time  of  war  or  other  public  emergencies  upon 
payment  of  their  fair  value." 

After  protracted  debate  and  discussion  the  Senate  was  induced 
to  retire  from  its  position  exempting  American  deep-sea  vessels. 
The  bill,  as  passed,  however,  retains  the  provision  excepting  from 


474  APPENDIXES 

payment  of  tolls  vessels  engaged  exclusively  in  the  coastwise 
trade  of  the  United  States.  There  is  much  opposition  to  the 
bill  in  railway  circles,  both  in  Canada  and  in  the  United 
States;  those  who  argue  in  favour  of  the  bill,  however,  claim 
that  the  imposition  of  tolls  would  help  to  strengthen  the 
present  monopoly  of  continental  railways.  To  overthrow  this 
alleged  monopoly  the  canal  is  forbidden  to  vessels  owned  and 
run  by  the  railroad  companies. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  Great  Britain  will  formally 
protest  against  several  of  the  regulations  which  the  bill  con- 
tains, especially  the  provision  exempting  American  coastwise 
vessels  from  tolls,  as  violating  the  agreement  reached  in  the 
Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty.  It  is  further  stated  in  London,  semi- 
officially, that  should  the  protest  fail  of  its  purpose  the  British 
government  will  endeavour  to  have  the  question  submitted  to 
the  Hague  Court,  under  the  arbitration  treaty  between  the 
two  countries. 

After  the  passage  of  the  Panama  Bill,  President  Taft  sent 
to  Congress  a  message  recommending  that  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  government  pass  a  resolution  supplementary  to  the  bill 
declaring  that  nothing  in  it  shall  be  deemed  a  violation  of  the 
Treaty  and  authorising  any  alien  who  thinks  he  is  discriminated 
against  to  bring  suit  in  the  United  States  courts.  Congress 
adjourned   without   acting  upon   this   suggestion. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  provision  of  the  Panama  canal 
bill  is  the  one  which  admits  foreign-built  ships  in  foreign  trade 
to  American  registry  when  they  are  owned  by  Americans.  This 
is  a  great  step  towards  freedom  of  trade,  and  one  which  can 
hardly  fail  to  restore  the  American  flag  to  the  high  seas. 

The  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  negotiated  to  supersede 
the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  of  1850,  was  ratified  and  pro- 
claimed in  February,  1902.  The  objections  of  the  British 
government  to  the  canal  bill  are  supposed  to  be  based  upon  the 
following  provisions  of  this  treaty: 


APPENDIXES  475 

Article  III.  "  The  canal  shall  be  free  and  open  to  the 
vessels  of  commerce  and  of  war  of  all  nations  observing  these 
rules  [those  embodied  in  the  Convention  of  Constantinople, 
1888,  for  free  navigation  of  the  Suez  Canal]  on  terms  of 
entire  equality,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  discrimination  against 
any  such  nation  or  its  citizens  or  subjects,  in  respect  of  the 
conditions  or  charges  of  traffic  or  otherwise.  Such  conditions 
and  charges  of  traffic  shall  be  just  and  equitable. 

2.  "  The  canal  shall  never  be  blockaded  nor  shall  any  right 
of  war  nor  any  act  of  hostility  be  committed  within  it.  The 
United  States,  however,  shall  be  at  liberty  to  maintain  such 
military  police  along  the  canal  as  may  be  necessary  to  protect 
it  against  lawlessness  and   disorder. 

Article  IV.  "  It  is  agreed  that  no  change  of  territorial 
sovereignty,  or  of  the  international  relations  of  the  country  or 
countries  traversed  by  the  aforementioned  canal,  shall  affect 
the  general  principles  of  neutralisation,  or  the  obligation  of  the 
High  Contracting  Parties  under  the  present  treaty." 

From  the  preceding  it  is  clear  that  our  lease  or  purchase  of 
the  Canal  Zone  from  the  Republic  of  Panama  was  foreseen, 
and  that  such  rights  of  sovereignty  as  we  then  acquired  are 
impaired  by  the  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  and  are  subject  to  its 
provisions.  In  fact,  there  seem  to  have  been  foresight  and 
forethought  everywhere  upon  the  question  except  in  Wash- 
ington. 

APPENDIX  L 

Our  Policy  in  Central  America 

The  policy  of  the  United  States  in  its  relations  with  our 
revolution-ridden  neighbours  in  Central  America,  and  in  the 
American  Mediterranean,  is  perhaps  more  clearly  defined  than 
ever  before  in  a  note  of  Hon.  Huntington  Wilson  to  Minister 
Weitzel  at  Managua,  which  was  published  in  Washington  on 
September  18,  1912. 

Mr,  Weitzel  was  directed  to  present  this  instruction  offi- 
cially to  the  Nicaraguan  Government  and  unofficially  to  the 


476  APPENDIXES 

revolutionists  in  that  country,  and  to  make  it  public  as  an  au- 
thorised declaration  of  policy. 

America's  purpose,  the  instruction  declares,  is  to  foster  true 
constitutional  government  and  free  elections,  and  to  this  end 
strong  moral  support  will  be  given  to  established  governments 
against  revolutions  based  upon  the  selfish  designs  of  would-be 
despots,  and  not  upon  any  principle  or  popular  demand.  Force 
will  be  used,  if  necessary,  in  maintaining  free  communications 
with  and  to  protect  American  ministries  and  legations.  This 
policy  has  already  been  adopted  in  Santo  Domingo,  Panama, 
and  Honduras. 

"  The  policy  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in 
the  present  Nicaraguan  disturbances  is  to  take  the  necessary 
measures  for  an  adequate  legation  guard  at  Managua,  to  keep 
open  communication,  and  to  protect  American  life  and  property. 

"  In  discountenancing  Zelaya,  whose  regime  of  barbarity  and 
corruption  was  ended  by  the  Nicaraguan  nation  after  a  bloody 
war,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  opposed  not  only 
the  individual,  but  the  system,  and  this  Government  could  not 
countenance  any  movement  to  restore  the  same  destructive 
regime. 

"  The  Government  of  the  United  States  will,  therefore,  dis- 
countenance any  revival  of  Zelayaism,  and  will  lend  its  strong 
moral  support  to  the  cause  of  legally  constituted  good  govern- 
ment for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  Nicaragua,  whom  it  has 
long  sought  to  aid  in  their  just  aspiration  toward  peace  and 
prosperity  under  constitutional  and  orderly  government. 

"  Under  the  Washington  conventions,  the  United  States  has 
a  moral  mandate  to  exert  its  influence  for  the  preservation  of 
the  general  peace  of  Central  America,  which  is  seriously  menaced 
by  the  present  uprising,  and  to  this  end,  in  the  strict  enforce- 
ment of  the  Washington  conventions  and  the  loyal  support  of 
their  aims  and  purposes,  all  the  Central  American  republics 
will  find  means  of  valuable  co-operation. 

"  When  the  American  Minister  called  upon  the  Government 


APPENDIXES  477 

of  Nicaragua  to  protect  American  life  and  property,  the  Min- 
ister for  Foreign  Affairs  replied  that  the  Government  troops 
must  be  used  to  put  down  the  rebellion,  adding:  '  In  conse- 
quence, my  government  desires  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  guarantee  with  its  forces  security  for  the  prop- 
erty of  American  citizens  in  Nicaragua,  and  that  they  extend 
this  protection  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  republic' 

"  In  this  situation  the  policy  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  will  be  to  protect  the  life  and  property  of  its  citizens  in 
the  manner  indicated,  and  meanwhile  to  contribute  its  influence 
in  all  appropriate  ways  to  the  restoration  of  lawful  and  orderly 
government  in  order  that  Nicaragua  may  resume  its  programme 
of  reforms  unhampered  by  the  vicious  elements  who  would 
restore  the  methods  of  Zelaya." 

The  communication  closed  with  a  denunciation  of  General 
Mena,  leader  of  the  present  insurrection,  whose  revolt  is  de- 
clared to  have  been  in  flagrant  violation  of  promises,  without 
even  the  pretence  of  contending  for  a  principle,  and  "  in  origin 
one  of  the  most  inexcusable  in  the  annals  of  Central  America." 

Criticism  of,  and  opposition  to,  this  line  of  policy  will  not  be 
wanting  in  Central  America  or  elsewhere.  Never  before  has 
it  been  made  quite  so  plain  that  no  government  can  survive  in 
the  five  republics  between  Mexico  and  Panama  without  the 
approval  and  the,  at  least  moral,  support  of  the  administration 
in  Washington. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  does  not  pretend  to  be  a  West  Indian 
Bibliography,  but  it  is  a  list  of  books  which  I  have  read  and 
consulted  as  having  a  bearing  upon  the  main  subject  or  upon 
others  of  allied  interest: 

General  Books 

Stanford's   Compendium    of    Geography:    Central    and    South 

America,    Vol.    2 — Central    America    and    West    Indies. 

Edited  by  Sir  Clement  Markham.     London,   1901. 
Our    West    Indian    Neighbours;    Camps    in    the    Caribbees; 

Porto  Rico  and  Its  Resources.     By  Frederic  A.  Obar. 
Nouveau  Voyage  aux  Isles  de  L'Amerique.     By  Pere  Labat. 

1722. 
History  of  the  British  Colonies  in  the  West  Indies.     By  Bryan 

Edwards.     1807. 
Chronological  History  of  the  West  Indies.     Captain  Thomas 

Southey.     London,   1827. 
The  West  Indies  and  the  Spanish  Main.    By  Anthony  Trollope. 

London,   i860. 
The  English  in  the  West  Indies.     By  James  Anthony  Froude. 

London,  1888. 
At  Last.     By  Charles  Kingsley. 
Tom  Cringle's  Log.     By  Michael  Scott. 
Peter  Simple.     By  Captain  Marryat. 
Report  of  the  West   Indian   Royal   Commission,    1897,   with 

Appendix.     By  Sir  Daniel  Morris. 
The  Agriculture  of  the  West  Indies.     By  David  D.  Fairchild, 

Department  of  Agriculture,   Bulletin   27   of  The   Bureau 

of  Plant  Industry. 
The  Reports  and  Bulletins  of  the  Experiment  Station  of  the 

Department  of  Agriculture  at  Mayaguez,  Porto  Rico. 

478 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  479 

The  Story  of  the  West  Indies.    By  Arnold  Kennedy.    London, 

1898. 
The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  Science. 
Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  with  other  Islands  of  the  West  Indies. 

By  Robert  T.   Hill.     New  York,    1903. 

Many  reports  and  bulletins  published  by  the  West  Indian 
Committee  of  London.  Many  of  these  are  written  by  Mr. 
Algernon  Aspinwall,  the  secretary  of  this  organisation,  a  dis- 
tinguished and  most  reliable  writer  on  all  West  Indian  subjects. 

The  Colombian  and  Venezuelan  Republics.     By  William  L. 

Scruggs,  formerly  U.  S.  Minister  to  both  countries. 
Cartas  Americanas.     By  Juan  Valera.     Madrid. 
Tropical  America.     By  Alleyne  Ireland.     New  York,  1899. 
De  la  Colonisation  chez  les  Peuples  Modernes.     By  P.  Leroy 

Beaulieu.     Paris,  1898. 
The  Lessons  of  Our  War  with  Spain.     By  Captain  Alfred  T. 

Mahan,  U.  S.  N.    Boston,  1899. 
The  Expansion  of  England.     By  Professor  Seeley.     London, 

1896. 

Commercial  America  in  1907.  Published  by  Bureau  of  Statis- 
tics of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labour,  Washington, 
showing  the  commerce,  production,  the  transportation  facilities, 
area,  and  population  of  the  countries  of  North,  South,  and 
Central  America  and  the  West  Indies. 

White  Capital  and  Coloured  Labour.  By  Sir  Sidney  Olivier, 
C.M.G.,  Governor  of  the  Island  of  Jamaica.  Being  VoL 
4  of  the  Socialist  Library.     London,  1906. 

Commercial  Reports  on  Trade  Conditions  in  the  West  Indies. 
By  Mr.  Charles  M.  Pepper,  Special  Agent  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labour. 

"  Latin  America  "  and  very  many  other  publications,  official 
and  unofficial,  from  the  very  able  pen  of  the  Hon.  John  Barrett, 


48o  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

formerly  United  States  Minister  to  Colombia,  Argentina,  and 
Panama,  and  now  Director  of  the  International  Bureau  of 
American  Republics,  also  known  as  the  Pan-American  Union. 

Tropical  America.     By  I.  N.  Ford. 

The  United  States  as  a  World  Power.     By  Archibald  Cary 

Coolidge. 
Volcan-Gebiete  Central  Amerikas.     By  Dr.  Sapper. 
Growth  of  Our  Foreign  Policy.     Atlantic  Monthly,  March, 

1900.     By  Former  Secretary  of  State  Richard  Olney. 

Hayti  and  Santo  Domingo 

Hayti,  or  the  Black  Republic.    By  Sir  Spencer  St.  John.    Lon- 
don,   1889. 
Where  Black  Rules  White.     By  Hesketh  Pritchard.     London, 

1900. 
Neger-Republik,  Hist.-Polit.-Bldtter,  Vol.  132,  Munich,   1903. 
The   Writings   of   Julian    Prevost   de    Limonade,    a    Haytian 

historian,  of  some  value. 
Hayti,    Her    History    and    Her   Detractors.      By    M.    Leger, 

formerly   Haytian   Minister  to  Washington.     A  not  very 

successful  piece  of  special  pleading. 
Bishop  Holly's  numerous  fugitive  writings  on  the  subject  of 

Hayti. 
Secret  History  of  the   Horrors  of  Santo   Domingo,  etc.,  etc. 

By  Miss  Hassall.     Philadelphia,   1808. 
Remarks    on    Hayti    as    a    Place    of    Settlement    for    Afric- 

Americans  and  on  the  Mulatto  as  the  Race  for  the  Tropics. 

By  Benjamin  Peter  Hunt.     i860. 
The  Pine  and  Palm.    Edited  by  James  Ridpath.    Boston,  1 862. 

A  short-lived  periodical   devoted  to  the  encouragement  of 

emigration  of  American  negroes  to   Hayti. 
Santo  Domingo,  Past  and  Present.    By  Samuel  Hazard.     1873. 
The  Dominican  Republic.    An  interesting  and  correct  sketch  of 

the  country,  published  by  the  Department  of  Public  Works, 

Santo  Domingo  City,  1907. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  481 

The  numerous  writings  of  Frederick  A.  Ober  on  Dominican 

subjects. 
Au  Pays  des  Generaux.    By  M.  Texier,    Paris,  1900. 

Jamaica 

Jamaica  One  Hundred  Years  Ago.     Lady  Nugent's  Journal. 
History  of  Jamaica.     By  Bryan  Edwards. 
White  Capital  and  Coloured  Labour.     By  Sir  Sidney  Olivier. 
The  Handbook  of  Jamaica.     London,   1908. 

Porto  Rico 

Porto  Rico  and  Its  Resources.     By  Frederic  Ober. 
Report  on  Island  of  Porto  Rico.     By  H.  V.  Carroll.     Wash- 
ington, 1899. 
The  annual  reports  of  Governor  Regis  Post,  i907-'o8. 
Reports  of  the  Insular  Bureau  of  the  War  Department. 

French  West  Indies 

Two  Years  in  the  French  West  Indies.     By  Lafcadio  Hearn. 

Harper's,   1902. 
Mont  Pelee  and  the  Tragedy  of  Martinique.     By  A.   Heil- 

prin.     1902. 
La  France  Coloniale.     By   Rambaud.     Paris. 

Barbados 

The  Negro  in  Barbados.  By  Walter  Merivale.  British  Em- 
pire Series. 

Cavaliers  and  Roundheads  of  Barbados,  1650.  By  N.  Darnell 
Davis.    Georgetown,  B.  G. 

Danish  and  Dutch   Islands 

Statistique  des  Antilles  Danoises.     Copenhagen,   1907. 
Statistique  Coloniale  des  Antilles   Hollandaises.     Amsterdam, 
1907. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Brooks,  views  on  Carib- 
bean conditions,  20 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  38 

Afro-Americans  as  colonizers, 
136 

Alabama   claims,    11 

Alcantara,    General,    172,   174 

American  engineers  and  railroad 
men,  395 

American  Mediterranean,  3,  7 

"American  Supremacy"  (Crutch- 
field),   445 

Americans,  bravery  at  Carta- 
gena, 214;  losses,  life  and  prop- 
erty,   in    Mexico,   305 

Ancon,  367 

Andes,  beef-eaters  from,  157 

Andinos,  habits  of,  160;  griev- 
ances of,  165;  hatred  of  Out- 
lander  government,  167,  182, 
189 

Andrade,  President,   168,  173 

Anti-American  feeling,  Cuba,  45, 
46 

Antigua,    4 

Antiguan,  a  leading,  15 

Antilles,   Lesser,    6 

Ashford,  Dr.,  300 

Asphalt  claim,    148-51 

Aspinwall,    Algernon,   479 

Atlantic  Ocean,  6 

Atlas   Line,   412 

Autonomy   in   Porto  Rico,   297 

Aux    Cayes,    48 

Bahamas,  3 

Baker,  Captain,  387 

Balboa,    352,    363 

Banana  trade,   387-90 

Baranquilla,   5 

Barbados,  5,  244,  249 

Barney,  30 

Barra,    de    la,    Hon.    Francisco, 

334-35-36 
Barrett,   Hon.  John,  218-19 


Basques,  21 

Basse  Terre,  253 

Berlin  Press  on  Castro  (Vene- 
zuela), 142 

Bishop,   J.   B.,   354 

Black,  Col.,  39 

Blanco,  Guzman,  141 

Blockade  of  Venezuelan  ports,  146 

Bobadilla,  131 

Bogota,   192-94 

Boisrond-Canal,    75 

Bolivar,  Simon,  140 

Bonaire,  267 

Bowen,    Minister,    184-85 

Boyd,  Don  Federico,  219 

Brazil,    6 

Bridgetown,    245-46 

Brimstone   Hill   Citadel,  253 

British  West  Indies,  12 ;  Educa- 
tion in,  243 ;  administration, 
244;   statistics,  447 

Buena  Ventura,   196 

Bull,  John,   10 

Biilow,    Prince,    142 

Cacao,  391 

Caceres,    President,    assassination 

of,  128 
Canada,    reciprocity    with    West 

Indies,  383-86 
Canal  legislation,  473-74 
Cannibalism,    among   Caribs,   232 
Cannon,  ex-Speaker,  295 
Cape  Francis    ("Old"),   30 
Cape  Sable,   3 
Caribbean,  the,  11 
Caribbean  Sea,  Mistress  of,  32 
Caribs,     232-33;     Carib     village 

Dominica,  visit  to,  238-42 
Cartagena,    5,   32;    expedition   to, 

205-16 
Castle   of   Millot,    Hayti,    58 
Castries,    12,    266 
Castro,   Baldorioty  de,  292 
Castro,     Don     Cipriano,     153-54; 


483 


484 


INDEX 


story  of,  157-90;  return  to 
power,  155;  sails  for  Europe, 
156;  and  Reyes,  160;  Crespo's 
opinion  of,  160;  politics  on 
Colombian  frontier,  i66;  his 
march  to  Caracas,  170-73;  pri- 
vate life,  174;  his  energy,  175; 
criticism  of  Roosevelt,  178; 
treatment  of  Congress,  179;  on 
battlefield  of  La  Victoria,  183 ; 
Venezuela  under  his  rule,  183- 
88 
Castro,  Dona  Sorla,  154-55 
Catholic  party,  Mexico,  317,  336, 

342 

Cauca,  valley  of,  193 

Central  American  States,  revolu- 
tions in,  346;  union  of,  347- 
48;    high    court    of    justice    in, 

349 

Chagres  River,  350 

Chamberlain,    Hon.    Joseph,    16 

Charlotte  Amalia,  23 

Chihuahua,  317 

Cientifico  party,  Mexico,  315 

Cleveland's,  President,  interven- 
tion in  Venezuela,   145 

Coffee,  loading  in  Hayti,  63 

Colombia,  Republic  of,  descrip- 
tion, 191;  power  of  provincial 
chiefs,  Mr.  Akers  on  political 
classes  of,  198-99;  wealth  of, 
216;  Isthmian  troubles,  219-20; 
statistics  concerning  revolu- 
tions  in,  441-44 

Colon,  4 

Color  question,  244;  war  castes, 
Yucatan,  331 

Columbus,  Christopher,  133,  139; 
house  of,  131;   remains,   134 

Confederation,    West    Indian,   386 

Conquest,  orphans  of,  223-42 

Convention,  U.  S.,  with  Domini- 
can  Republic,   24;   text  of,  414 

Coolie   labour,   281 

Cooper,  William,  205 

Copenhagen,   14 

Corbin,  General,  205 

Cortez,   32 

Cotton-growing,  390 

Courland,   Dukes   of,   275 

Crespo,    President,    164 

Cristobal,   374 

Crutchfield,  Mr.,  446 


Cuba,  12,  21 ;  in  '98,  31;  budget, 
commercial  statistics,  401 ; 
anti-American  feeling  in,  45 ; 
during  elections,  42;  color  ques- 
tion in,  41 

Cuban  Republic,  legislation  in, 
39;  future  of,  commercial  pros- 
perity of,  44 

Cucaracha  Slide,  365 

Culebra   Cut,  359-69 

Cumberland    Harbour,   215 

Curagao,  267;  German  fleet  at, 
268-69 

Cushing,    Caleb,    194 

Danish  Islands,  13,  223-25;  pro- 
posed sale  of,  22 ;  fiscal  out- 
look, 23 ;    statistics,  446 

Darrieus,  Captain  Gabriel,  views 
on  West  Indian  conditions,  18- 
19;  proposes  sale  French 
islands,  286-88 

Dawson,  Thomas   C,  416 

Defoe,    277 

De  Grasse,  8 

Deseada,   279 

Diamond   Rock,   263 

Diaz,  Don  Porfirio,  346 

Diaz  regime   in  Mexico,   28,   304- 

05 

Dominica,    8,   9,    237 

Dominican  Republic,  U.  S.  rela- 
tions with,  24-26 ;  convention 
with,  text  of,  414;  statistics,  418 

Drake,   Francis,    132,    133,   362 

Dutch  islands,  13,  267-69,  229- 
30;    statistics,  456 

Dutch  steamer,  voyage  on,  47 

Earthquakes,    8 

Education    in    British    West    In- 
dies,  243 
Education  in  Mexico,  319-20 
El   Dorado,   140 
El   Precursor,    140 
"  Egyptians  "   in    Hayti,    50 
Everett,  Edward,   38 

Fajardo,   290 

Fathers,    Redemptorist,    231 
Ferrer,    General,    170 
Fight  for  sugar,  3,  8 
Firmin,  Dr.,  76,  79,  86,  120 
Fish,  Secretary  of  State,  n 


INDEX 


485 


Florida  Strait,  6 
Foltz,  Major,  42 
Foraker  Bill,  295 
France,    17;    colonial    empire    of, 

39;     French     islands,     279-88; 

statistics,   457-59 
French  Cable  Co.,  147 
Froude,   historian,   15 
Fruit   trade,   10;   development  of, 

390 

Gaillard,    Col.,   354,    359,   366 

Galicians,   21 

Gatun,    350-53;     water-gates    of, 

355-56 
General   Staff   (U.   S.   Army),   34 
Germany,  lo;  in  West  Indies,  13, 

24.     393.     398;     Emperor,     29; 

navy,  154;  commercial  methods 

of,    397 
Goethals,   Col.,   354 
Gold  Hill,   361,   365 
Gomez,    Don    Vicente,    President 

(of  Ven.),  143,   152,   188,  190 
Gomez,  President  Jose  Miguel,  37, 

39,  40 
Gonaives,  79 
Gorgas,    Col.,   376-78 
Grandval,  M.  de,  286 
Grenada,   5 

Grant,  President,   11,   30 
Guadeloupe,    4,    280-83 
Guantanamo  Bay,  5,  32,  33 
Gulf  Stream,  6 
Gussie,  transport,  31 

Hague,  statesmen  of,   14 

Hague    Tribunal,    Venezuela    at, 

Hamburg-American         Steamship 

Co.,  6,  23 
Hamilton,    Alexander    H.,   264 
Hanna,   Senator  Marcus,   221 
Harrison,    William   Henry,   194 
Havana,  5 
Hay,   John,   38 
Hay-Herran  Treaty,  220-21 
Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  473 
Hayti,   5,  48,  51,  52,   60-68,  79 
Hayti,  history  of,  405  ;  mixed  mar- 
riages  in,   394;    revolutions   in, 
407;    German    interventio;i    in, 
80;    press   of,   414 
Heureaux,   Ulysse,   121 


Hispaniola,  5,  121 
Hodges,  Col.,  354 
Holland,      Minister     from,      and 

Castro,  158 
Holstein,  289 
Honda,    196 

Hood,  Captain  John,  31,   118 
Humboldt,  Alexander,   192,  200 
Hurricanes,  7,  8 ;  a  West  Indian 

experience,  270-73 

Insular  bureau  of  war  depart- 
ment,  295 

Isthmus,  conquest  of  (Panama), 
350-78 

Isthmus,   transit  of,   220 

Jacmel,  48 

Jamaica,  4,  5,  256-58;  leading 
editor  of,  i6;  bye-election  in, 
260 

Japanese,  Admiral  Sampson's  ad- 
miration  of,    31 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  views  on 
Cuba,   37 

Jenkins'    (Captain)    ear,  2 

Jeremie,    48 

Jews,    Spanish    and    Portuguese, 

193 
John  Bull,    10 
Johnston,   Sir    Harry,   118 
Jones,  Paul,   277 
Juarez,    314 

Key   West,    3 

Kidd,    Captain,   227 

Kidnapping    children    in    Hayti, 

90-94 
Kings,  a  pair  of,  227 
Kingston,  7,  8,  257 
Knox,    Honourable   Philander    C, 

348;    on    Santo    Domingo,    424; 

on    Honduras    and    Nicaragua, 

427 

Labat,     Pere,     his     travels     232; 

stories  of  Obeah,  233-37 
La   Guayra,   5 
Las  Casas,  131 
La   Victoria,  battle   at,   180-82 
Lavigerie,   Cardinal,   250 
Lawlessness  of   blacks   in   French 

islands,  282 


486 


INDEX 


Lecky,  historian,  3 
Leeward   Islands,  2 
Leger,  Minister,   89 
Legitimus,    Deputy,    283-84-85 
Leigh,   Sir   Olive,    32,   246 
Liberator     (Bolivar),    last   words 

of,  140 
Limon  Bay,  362 
Lodge    Senator    Cabot,    footnote, 

399 
Lower  California,  333 

Madero,  President,  303  ;  not  anti- 
foreign,  307;  revolutionary 
plans  at  San  Luis  Potosi,  309; 
his  confidence  in  people,  310; 
nomination  by  church  party, 
336;  acts  of,  as  president,  343; 
Magdalena  Bay,  footnote,  399; 
Magdalena  River,  192 

Magon,  Flores,  31 

Magoon,  34;  use  of  pardoning 
power,  35 

Mail,   U.   S.   official,   opened,   151 

Maisi,  Cape,  30 

Malmesbury,  38 

Mandeville,  389 

Maracaibo  Indians,  139 

Margarita,   269 

Marroquin,  President  Jose  Ma- 
ria  of   Colombia,    195 

Martinique,   4,   17 

Massachusetts  archives,  208 ; 
volunteers    from,    206-9 

Matchin,    373 

Matos,  General,  145,  177-82 

Maurice,    Captain,  263 

Maya   Indians,   328 

M'Calla  and  marines,   32 

McCreery,   Hon.   Fenton,    137 

McKinley,  President,  38 

Mediterranean,  our,  3-4 

Mendoza,    Don   Luciano,    171-174 

Menocal,  General,  37,  45 

Mexico,  28;  Attitude  of  U.  S. 
Government  toward  revolution, 
29;  our  immigration  to,  306; 
Americanization  of  some 
states,  306;  oil  fields  of,  308; 
elections  in,  321 ;  present  state 
of,   346 

Mexico  City,  riots  in,  318,  319 

Mexico,  Gulf  of,  3,  6 

Midshipmite,  31 


Miraflores,   351 

Miranda,   General,  his  American 

followers  shot,  140 
Mississippi  River,  7 
Mole    St.    Nicholas,    30 
Molina,    General,    329 
Mona    Passage,    5 
Monroe  Doctrine,  12,  18,  25 
Montbars,    228 
Morgan,    362 
Morne  des   Sauteurs,  233 
Morua,  Cuban  politician,  44. 
Mount   Vernon,   206 
Munoz  Rivera,   293 
Murray,  C.   Gideon,  386 

Naos,   island,    352 

Napoleon,    9 

Negro    deputies,    282 

Negroes,  Barbadian  and  Ja- 
maican,   at   Panama,   251 

Nelson,  Horatio,  264;  his  mar- 
riage,  265 

Nevis,    264 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  211-12 

New  Granada,  treaty  of,  220 

Nord  Alexis,  General  and  Presi- 
dent, 55-59,  77-85,  117-18 

Nord  Alexis,  Mme.,  58-60,  68-70, 
78-79 

North  Americans,  loyal,  32;  ex- 
pedition   to    Cartagena,    205-16 

Nova  Zembla,  7 

Nunez,  General,  and  Veterans' 
Association,   45 

Ober's  Crusoe's  Island,  277 

Ocean,  Western,  6 

"Old      Grog,"      how      Admiral 

Vernon      received      his      name, 

215 
Olivier,  Sir  Sidney,  258;  ideas  on 

race  question,  448 
Olney,  Mr.,  347;   Olney-Salisbury 

correspondence,  12 
Orientales    (Venezuela),   157,   169 
Orinoco,   Mouth  of,   145 
Oruba,    267 
Overlord  of  Caribbean,  13 

Panama,  Canal  of,  224;  conquest 
of  Isthmus,  350-78:  Republic 
of,  218-19;  as  military  and 
naval    base,    34;    treaty    with 


INDEX 


487 


United  States,  461;  revolution- 
ary  records,  444 

Papaloi,   59 

Papiamento,    269 

Passage,  Windward,  30 

Paul,    Dr.    (Jesus   Rojas),    149 

Pedro    Miguel,    350 

Philippine   troubles,    10 

Pino    Suarez,    330 

Planter  families,  Barbados  and 
Virginia,   243 

Piatt  Amendment,  21,  36;  accept- 
ance by  Cuba,  37;  meaning  of, 
38 ;   text   of,   404 

Poets   of   Colombia,   195 

Pointe-a-Pitre    (Guadeloupe),  283 

Ponce   de   Leon,    131 

Porter,  Commodore  David,  290 

Port-au-Prince,    56 

Port   of   Spain,   261-62 

Porto  Rico,  5,  20;  present  state 
of,  27,  289-301;  our  policy  in, 
296;  plan  for  government  of, 
297;   hookworm  crusade  in,  299 

Porto  Ricans,  status  of,  295 

Post,   Hon.   Regis,  481 

Poynts,  John,  booms  Tobago,  278 

Press,  West  Indian,  259 

Priests,  Roman  Catholic,  in 
Hayti,  116 

Problem,  our  colonial,  28 

Puebla,   315 

Puerto    Cabelio,    5 

Quebec   Line,   5 
Queretero,  elections  in,  317 

Race  feeling,  Cuba,  41 ;  French, 
English,  Dutch,  Danish  Isles, 
42;  race  question,  249,  260,  280, 
296 ;  English  governor's  views, 
448 

Raleigh,   Sir  Walter,   140 

Reyes,  General  Bernardo  (Mex- 
ico), 337;  interview  with  Diaz, 
339;  goes  to  Europe,  339; 
presidential  candidate,  failure 
of   revolution,    345 

Reyes,  President,  Colombia,  198- 
99)  i95"96;  his  railway  surveys, 
197;  fail  of,  198;  as  explorer, 
199 

Rhodes,  historian,  11 

Robinson    Crusoe's   real    home,   2 


Rodney,  Admiral,  8,  229-31 

Romance  in  West  Indian  history, 
273 

Roosevelt,  President,  on  West  In- 
dies, 19;  letter  to  Johnston,  ri8; 
action  on  Panama  question, 
222 

Root,  Elihu,  86;  views  on  Mexico, 
346 ;   on   Monroe   Doctrine,   347 

Rousseau,  Admiral,   354 

Royal   Commission,  383-86 

Royal  mail  steamers,  6 

Rum,  212 

Russell,    U.   S.   Minister,   151 

Saba,   229 

Sam,  General   and  President,  55 

Sampson,  Admiral,  on  board 
Neiu  York,  31;  his  memories 
of  Japanese,  32 

San   Antonio,  334 

St.   Barts,  228 

San  Bias  Mountains,  350 

Santa   Cruz,   4,  226,  291 

St.  John's,  225 

St.   John,    Sir    Spencer,    49 

San   Juan,   Porto   Rico,   30 

St.  Kitts,  4,  9,  251 ;  aquatic 
prowess  of  natives,  254 

St.   Lucia,   12,  265 

St.  Martin,  227 

St.  Nicholas,  Church  of,  132 

St.   Pierre,  282 

St.  Thomas,  2,  4,  223,  231 

Samana  Bay,  30,  134-36 

Sanguillay,  Cuban  Secretary  of 
State,  44 

Santa   Barbara,   136 

Santo  Domingo,  5,  26;  descrip- 
tion of,  129-131;  ancient  days 
in  capital  of,  130-34;  recent 
history,  121 ;  Professor  Hol- 
lander on,  123 ;  machinery  of 
revolution,  128;  our  financial 
intervention  in,  126;  views  of 
Honourable  Philander  C. 
Knox  on,  424;  text  of  conven- 
tion  with,   414 

Sapper,  Professor,  286 

Senate,  U.  S.,  footnote,  399 

Shafter,  Major-General,  31 

Sibert,  Colonel,  354 

Simon,  General  and  President, 
74,    85,    "8 


488 


INDEX 


Slides,  366,  372 

Smollett,  on  bravery  of  Ameri- 
cans  at    Cartagena,   207-14 

South  America,  inland  water- 
ways of,  200-02 

Spaniard,  letter  of,  from  Cuba, 
40 

Spanish  Main,  the,   191,  208-12 

Spanish   Town,   257 

Spanish   War,    12 

Spottiswoode,  Gov.,  210 

Staff,   General,   34 

Sugar,  story  of,  379;  methods  of 
sugar-making,  381 ;  sugar  con- 
vention, 381;  sugar  from  beet 
root,  9 

Sumner,    Senator,    u,    12 

Supreme  Court  of  Venezuela, 
176 

Tachira,  and  Trujillo,  mountain- 
eers from,   158 
Tacoma,  U.  S.  Cruiser,  30;  mail 

of,   opened,   151 
Taft,   President,  35 
Tequendama,    falls    of,    195 
Thatcher,  Mr.,  354 
Thornton,   British   Minister,    11 
Tinsley's,  Marse,   "  boys,"   136 
Tobago,  story  of,  273,  278 
Tom  Cringle's  Log,  270 
Toussaint  I'Ouverture,  56 
Treaty,   Hay-Pauncefote,  475 
Treaty  with  Denmark,  defeat  of, 

23 
Trinidad,  25,  260-63 

Ugarte,  Manuel,  296 
Uncle  Sam,  10 

United  States,  141 ;  good  offices 
of,   125 


Valencia,   170 

Vasconcelos,  Don  Jose,  situation, 
Mexico,   312,    315 

Vasquez-Gomez,  Dr.  Emilio,  313- 
16;   Dr.  Francisco,   316,   344 

Venezuela  to-day,  139-56;  condi- 
tions under  Castro,  185;  statis- 
tics, 432;  Yellow  House  in,  155 

Vernon,  Admiral,  32,  208 

Veterans'    Association,   45 

Virgin    Group,   225,    227 

Virginia,   contingent   from,  206 

Voodoo  Sect,  59;  truth  about,  87- 
112;  in  Cuba  and  Jamaica,  U2 

Waldemar,  Prince,  22 

Washington,  George,  trip  to  Bar- 
bados, 247-48 

Washington,    Lawrence,   £o6,   211 

Wentworth,  General,  211 

West  Indies,  5;  conditions,  14; 
burdens,  22 ;  excursion  steam- 
ers, 5 ;  romance  and  history, 
273;  federation  of,  15-17; 
views,  Roosevelt  on,  118;  reci- 
procity with  Canada,  383; 
usufruct  of,   379-99 

Wilson,  \J.  S.  Ambassador,  304 

Willemstad,  267 

William,  Emperor,  14 

Williamson,  S.  B.,  354 

Windward  Islands,  2,  4 

Winslow,  Capt.   John,  216 

Yellow   fever   at    Cartagena,   215 
Yucatan,  situation  in,   328,   332 

Zapata^    General,    324-28 
Zapotec    Indian,    340 
Zayas,    Vice-President,    37,   43 
Zelaya,     Ex-President      (Nicara- 
gua),  349 


9.%LSi"{g-''"'0        'I     7«-     '2  13     ,..    14-  15     ra-    16  17      „      18  t9      „     20  2J ee     22  23     «.     24-  25    „■    26  27     .p.    28  29 


23      "'     24  25     "      26 27  28 


AltaVe1a.J-16. 

Auegada,  1-23. 
Angailla,  I-X5. 
AnOgiiB,  J-26-    ,      „ 
ArcbipclBgo  de  los  Cuurreo! 

Archipelago  of  Qnsnlgnanlet 


Big  Guana  Cay 
Cabraa.  F-19.' 


z'.yT- 


cayo 


tto,  E-IO. 


Cljo  Pa« 

C^o  Saola  Marls,  E 

Cftjos  Babla  de  Cadiz, : 
Cqros  Cobos,  B-8. 
C^OB  do  Aoa  Uarlo,  F 


Cayos  de  Dion,  E-S. 
CMOS  de  Felipe,  E-4. 
Cayoe  de  Joan  Ula,  E-5. 
Cayoa  de  las  Doce  Legnaa,  { 
Cayoe  de  Tana,  O-IO. 
Cayo  Verdo,  E-ia. 
Clitcra  Cay,  C-Il. 
Conceptton,  D-IJ. 
Cordillera  Reefs,  D-34. 


Corley  (int'cays,  D-(. 


Prench  Cay8,E-14. 


Urand'caicoB,  K- 
Grund  Cayman.  I 


IT:IS: 


Onn  Cay,  B-8. 
Haiti,  0-ie. 
nighbonrne,  C-II. 


H^iulL 


Orange,  6-e. 

Podro  Cftys,  J-Q. 

Pigeon,  C-22, 
Plnero,  E^. 
Piana.  E-14. 
Portland  Rock,  J-r 

Racoon  Cay,  E-IS. 
Ragged.  B-ia. 
Redonda,  K-25. 


THE   WEST  IKDIES. 

Islands,  Lakes,  Mountains,  Rivers,  and  Towns. 


Islaads— cont'd, 
Seal  Cay,  £-11. 
Seal  C&ya,  P-ia. 
Seven  BrotbQr«.  H-I6. 

Sonlb  Guana  Cay,  A-11. 
RpanlEb  Cay.  A-IO. 
St!  Ctirlfilophere.'j-aB.' 


flnrlquillo,  I-I6. 

MOUNTAINS. 


RIVERS. 

AqnaA^la.Bls3. 


Anso  Demery,  H-28 

Anee  La  Bare,  H-S8 

AnrcSte.Margnerlto,  A-&7 

Areclbo,  D-20 i 

Bale  de  la  Capeaterre,  C^s! 

Basse  Terre'j-aa:!; 
Balabano,E-6 

BejnMl^D-o". .!;'!; 

Belondron,  F-9 

BBthanv,A-2l  

Black  RlMr,C-19... 
Blewflelds.  B-18.... 
BlQffBay.  B-aa 


^allaqas,  N- 

lagnej  (Puerto 


Callmet«,E-7.. 


Caae  Pllote,  P-27. 

Cayey.  E-as"!!"! 
Cbapleton,  B-ai  . 


rJmo.Ma:.: 


Fniardo.E.3< 

Falmoutb.  A-SO.. 

FerrlB.Vk...  '. 


FrcderlcbBted,  j-3i 


MfllBg"''eta,V-ii 


Poinleftpitre,  B-ar. 


Towns— cont'd.       Pop. 


Portland  Point,  C-SS. 

Port  Maeorle,  1-18 . . . 

PortMorant.C-!M:'.' 
Porto  do  Banea.  F-IS 
Port  of  Spain.  Q-aS  . 
port  Ponce,  F  20. . . . 
Port  Real,  E-19 


Santo  Domingo,  1-18    -.  SOOOO 
SsTauna-la^Uar,  B-ls!.. 


SpelehlAtown,  N-S8... 


aJuan,  Dffi 4S716 

a  Jaan  do  los  Perroe, 

aLazaro.  EMl!!".'.'.^."" 
a  Lorenso.  B-S3 ffUa 

Q  Migncl  de  Noevltae, 

P-IO. 

a  Rafael,  B-15 

Qta  Crtiz'dcl  Snr",a9'..I640 

otfllMbel,  F-aKi:;!.!'.1290 


Vortlentee,  F-9 

Victoria  de  lae  Tana^  O-IO. 

viBqnM.'E-ii!.!;!;!;"!;;aiM 

VleQiPort,C-a8.. 

Vleox  Fort,  1-28,  

VIIlo  Terre  d'  ea  Haot,  C-S7 
Vinalw,E-4 1431 

l&'ifc-af....-::::: 

Tarlgna,  F-io 

Yanco,  P-» ....OMO 

Zaza  del  Medio,  E-B 


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